What if instead of only complaining, we could actually do something to help our city?
Maybe starting from the sidewalks?
Maybe starting from the sidewalks?
CONTEXT
Sidewalks have been quite damaged, and besides not looking good, they are actually pretty dangerous. In 2011 they were responsible for over 100 thousand accidents only in Sao Paulo.
PROCESS
We decided to start a movement to create awareness about the sidewalks and foster discussions about possible solutions. Our challenge was to shout out loud yet being friendly and inviting so more people could join us.
SOLUTION
Homemade colored foam plasters put by the sidewalks at night, and a Facebook fan page with a statement about the movement were our vehicles to tell a greater story: Inviting people to look differently to the place they live and also to call the attention for their role as change makers.
IMPACT
Within a month we hit over 2k “likes” on our Facebook page – we now have over 11k . People in several places not only in Brazil, but Italy, France, Latin America and even in Denmark*, have been organizing their own Urband-aid actions. We were headlining in some of the most important papers and TV news of Brazil, sharing our idea and talking about how we could improve our sidewalks.
In January/2013 MIS (national Museum of Image and Sound) is organizing an exhibition about the Urband-aids, inviting several urban artists to customize some “band-aids”.
*I held a lecture in Copenhagen in October 2012 about the movement on an event for social entrepreneurs called “Vi” (we in English).
http://www.facebook.com/curativosurbanos
