City furniture

The city's squares are busier than they have been 50 years ago. Whether Sechseläutenplatz, Röntgen-, Bullinger- or Röschibachplatz - the same phenomena can be observed everywhere. As soon as the temperature and the weather permit it, people are on the square, meeting, drinking or eating together.
On the one hand, this has to do with a change in lifestyle over the last 30 years. Public space is much more appropriated today. While private events used to be confined to one's own home, parties are also celebrated in public spaces today. People meet for an after-work beer in the square or go there to enjoy the sun. (1) On the other hand, the city has also changed. More people live in the city and use public spaces. At the same time, the city has made the squares more attractive. There are benches and litter garbage cans in almost all squares. The benches are mostly the so-called «Landi Bank», which were designed by architects Alfred Altherr and Charles Hoch for the Swiss National Exhibition in 1939 and can be found in different versions in the city today. (4) The Abfallhai on the other side, designed in 2003, will be replaced by the new (and old) Zürichkübel in the next few years. (5) In general, the litter buckets are a very good tool for recognizing public places where people eat.
With the people in the squares came the take-away food sellers and with them the litter in the squares. Where many people gather in the evening, eat and drink together, everything is cleaned up by cleaning crews in the early morning hours, so that in the morning the square is just as inviting as before.

(1) - Ein Platz spaltet die Stadt, NZZ am Sonntag 22.04. 2018.
(2) - Future Public Spaces, M. Kwiatkowski, S. Breit, L. Thalmann, Gottlib Duttweiler Institut.
(3) - Stadt Zürich, Bänke (4) - Burri, Landibank (5) - Der Neue Kübel, Hochparterre, Meret Ernst, 25.01.2019
(6) - Take-away kostet Restaurants eine Milliarde Umsatz, NZZ am Sonntag 05.05.2019.

images
1 - Zürich, 24.04.2021, Damian Oswald
2 - Opendata Zürich, drawn by BSV
3 - BSV
4 - Ein Platz spaltet die Stadt, NZZ am Sonntag 22.04. 2018.
5 - Burri, Landibank