<story><title>Adfree Cities</title><url>https://adfreecities.org.uk/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sunday_serif</author><text>Not so long ago, I was traveling around Switzerland. During my time in the country, there was always something just a little off, and I couldn’t place what it was.&lt;p&gt;Was it cleaner? Was the architecture just very modernist? Did it have something to do with the season?&lt;p&gt;Eventually, I realized that the difference I was noticing between Switzerland and California (my home state) was that there was simply much less advertising in the physical spaces of cities.&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if this is a result of some legislature there or if it is just a result of the way the Swiss think about visual design and advertising.&lt;p&gt;But I absolutely loved it. It was so refreshing to see the beauty of a city block without being bombarded by advertisements.&lt;p&gt;It really lets the character of a city shine through.&lt;p&gt;LA, SF and Sac seem to be on the opposite end of the spectrum… practically the only thing you notice are the billboards.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Zanni</author><text>Hawaii has a &amp;quot;no billboards&amp;quot; law [0] (as do Maine, Vermont and Alaska). I think this is a cleaner, better statement than &amp;quot;ad-free city,&amp;quot; which is obviously far overstating the case &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; paradoxically doesn&amp;#x27;t even ban billboards (they&amp;#x27;re still allowed for non-corporate advertising).&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;movingtokona.com&amp;#x2F;why-there-are-no-billboards-in-hawaii&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;movingtokona.com&amp;#x2F;why-there-are-no-billboards-in-hawa...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Adfree Cities</title><url>https://adfreecities.org.uk/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sunday_serif</author><text>Not so long ago, I was traveling around Switzerland. During my time in the country, there was always something just a little off, and I couldn’t place what it was.&lt;p&gt;Was it cleaner? Was the architecture just very modernist? Did it have something to do with the season?&lt;p&gt;Eventually, I realized that the difference I was noticing between Switzerland and California (my home state) was that there was simply much less advertising in the physical spaces of cities.&lt;p&gt;I am not sure if this is a result of some legislature there or if it is just a result of the way the Swiss think about visual design and advertising.&lt;p&gt;But I absolutely loved it. It was so refreshing to see the beauty of a city block without being bombarded by advertisements.&lt;p&gt;It really lets the character of a city shine through.&lt;p&gt;LA, SF and Sac seem to be on the opposite end of the spectrum… practically the only thing you notice are the billboards.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>secretsatan</author><text>Geneva narrowly rejected banning billboards recently.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;geneva-throws-out-ban-on-commercial-adverts-in-streets&amp;#x2F;48353784#&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.swissinfo.ch&amp;#x2F;eng&amp;#x2F;politics&amp;#x2F;geneva-throws-out-ban-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>