Local anecdote: the new-ish mayor here in my city in France was in the news today after announcing a plan to ban much outdoor advertising and reduce the rest to

Local anecdote: the new-ish mayor here in my city in France was in the news today after announcing a plan to ban much outdoor advertising and reduce the rest to far smaller panels. [0] It’s a controversial idea for a couple of reasons including that some apartment buildings have long used advertising ‘wrap arounds’ to hide major building-wide renovation projects and, in doing so, subsidise the cost of those renovations. As well, the city has a wonderful bike share scheme that has been paid for by giving away the rights to the external advertising panels that the city controls to a billboard/outdoor ad company. The bikes are used by thousands every day and it is affordable only because of the payment in kind that the outdoor ads represent; I’m not sure what happens to that scheme when the outdoor ad space is reduced and the bike scheme operator cries contract law. On the other side of the coin, there is an active group of activists in the city that will paper over outdoor billboards and electronic signs with their slogan ’Stop Pub’ (stop advertising) and they seem to have some support, too. The mayor certainly seems sympathetic to their cause, if not all of their methods. 0: https://www.lyonmag.com/article/112603/ce-que-les-ecologistes-prevoient-pour-la-publicite-dans-la-metropole-de-lyon https://www.lyonmag.com/article/112603/ce-que-les-ecologiste...