ABSTRACT
The company—J.C. Decaux—hires well-known architects and industrial designers to develop types of outdoor "street furniture" specifically for pedestrians. They produce several lines of public restrooms, bus shelters, newspaper vending kiosks, benches, and directional signs. Compared with many other North American cities, some areas of Seattle's downtown are lively. The streets and alleys in Pike Place Market comprise an energetic concentration of vitality, individuality, and quirkiness. The City of San Francisco bought the Decaux line of street furniture, including toilets, for Market Street. The companies offer to build, install, and maintain the street furnishings at little or even no cost to local government. Graphic designers compose beautiful, often visually striking, images that are lighted at night, adding whimsy, warmth, and vitality to city streets. In fact, the roadblock seems to be that no one in City Hall is willing to be an advocate for changing the sign ordinance to allow the urban amenities to be provided.
