Beauty is fundamental, Lisbon…
When I worked on promoting Lisbon, I tried to continually improve how they make presentations to capture talent, companies and investment.
The height provided using a photo of Lisbon, seen from the river, beautiful, and after a break, explained how beauty was fundamental to success: buildings (making them much more valuable), products, people … and cities . And the role it had played in Lisbon’s recent past.
It told how the city had gone from decay to a star, unraveling arguments, advantages and qualities. Because beauty, being fundamental, is not enough.
From that perspective, Lisbon remains one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And I even appreciate some decadence, patina. But I don’t see beauty in dirty sidewalks, vandalized urban furniture, illegal advertising, tags, electoral plastic hanging on lamps, banners and outdoors covering monuments and frames. So if the day is cloudy, it’s for sure depression.
In the 60s, in the USA, Lady Bird Johnson developed a campaign to beautify cities, fighting against outdoor advertising and in favor of cleaning and planting trees and flowers. I believed that the environment around us shapes our lives and that the beauty of the public space would improve mental health and social well-being.
Krus Abecasis, when president of the CML, approved and implemented a regulation that disciplined the placement of partisan propaganda in specific places and during election campaigns, (as in other countries), which worked.
Who followed the regulations. And in recent years the situation has gotten worse. Most of the wildly pasted posters in other unthinkable countries are sponsored by the CML itself. Now we even have billboards for campaigns from other municipalities. If a fashion catches, there are 308 ….
What is missing from our responsible responsibles? Sensitivity? Good taste? Culture? Intelligence? Strength?
There is common sense. So much crap for what? Don’t forget that beauty is fundamental.
Manager