In Bloom
Today, the Mayor of London launched a strategy to 'green' London, planting more trees and encouraging the development of roof gardens and living walls.
Whatever the substance of the report, the strategy is clearly the right one - not simply to cope with climate change, but also to improve quality of life in the city.
A walk down through Deptford to Greenwich last weekend provided a couple of examples of how dramatic the effect of some vigorous planting can be.
While this tower block has been transformed by a few pot plants, Oscar Street - just behind Tesco Metro on Lewisham Way - has clearly benefited from some collective action, as you can see on Streetview.
Every tree nests in a bouquet of flowers, every house has a hanging basket. The wheelie bins can't be hidden, so instead they're decorated. It's a triumph of collective action and it sure beats dog-poo stencils and double-parked cars:
26 comments:
I''d hardly call that a tower block, block yes, tower block, no.
Ok
Did you take in Deptford market on your way down to Greenwich?
a treat
Good stuff - check out http://www.treesforcities.org/ - a charity organisation whose aim is to do just this.
Maybe they could put plants around the sat dishes to hide them
I really like Oscar street because of this. In high summer it looks great - and they have tackled the issue of being directly on the street in a collective way. I always notice thoguh that there is one house that is not joining in - there always has to be one, doesn't there?
I always thought a tower block was like the one in the opening titles to Only Fools and Horses - situated in nearby Peckham!
This is great, greenery definitely "softens" a street and if the presence of litter and grafitti encourages more of the same, I think that greenery probably encourages pride in a neighbourhood. When people visit me on Manor Ave one of their first remarks is often how lovely and green it is. Greenery is probably a good way to design out crime and design in respect.
Amen to that brother.
Fancy some beans?
Not really. You?
"When people visit me on Manor Ave one of their first remarks is often how lovely and green it is"
What are their other first remarks?
(for purposes of putting that statement into context you understand, I mean, it could be "bollocks, I just stepped in some dog crap!")
Yeah, or
"Where's the car?"
First remarks are usually something like "hello", "how're things" etc etc!
I think most friends of mine were surprised at how pleasant Brockley was when they came for the 1st time, their comments are usually something along the lines of it's lovely and quiet/green or a comment on the size of the buildings/architecture or surprise that they're still in zone 2.
A lot of them come from north London and are expecting to have to dodge a hail of bullets on the way from the station whilst avoiding crack dealers. Reading between the lines of their comments what they're are actually saying is "I can't believe how pleasant it actually is round here are we really south of the river?"...
or, I heard about this road in the Nimby Times, wasn't there an uproar over a nursery....nice and green though innit?
You have friends in North London?
I always thought there was something a bit shifty about you.
I'm bored, where's Fred? I fancy an arguement!!
One thing they don't say, I'll bet, is "look at all those unsightly sky dishes"
And not through a lack of them either...
I'm told the tower blocks seen at the start of Only Fools and Horses are actually in Bristol not Peckham.
May of course be an urban myth.
Yes I'm afraid I do have friends in North London, in fact I used to live in Islington for a while.
I'm sure visitors notice the bloody satellite dishes though, in their little clusters. Nasty things.
TM - Yeah I had heard that the block on OFaH is not in London.
When I first came to London I actually visited Peckham just to see Del and Rodney’s tower. For some reason I figured it would be sign posted or something, at least well known to locals. I asked around, got some suspicious looks, thought it was a bit dodgy and left.
Felt like a right tonk when I found out.
The flats in question were Harlech Tower in Acton, W3!
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Harlech+Tower,+Park+Rd+E,+Ealing,+London+W3,+United+Kingdom&sll=51.424394,-0.173149&sspn=0.010945,0.033023&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FTznEQMd7Nj7_w&split=0&t=h&layer=c&cbll=51.504939,-0.272829&panoid=iNJiMYzDmmr033wPQGZxFQ&cbp=12,103.96,,0,-15.94&ll=51.504936,-0.272834&spn=0.010925,0.033023&z=16&iwloc=A
Not according to this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89492733@N00/339796534/
It's not only the tower blocks - lots of the Only Fools... exterior locations were actually shot in Bristol.
Same with the Young Ones.
Has anyone seen those lovely planters in Crofton Park - on the corner where the little 'box' estate agents is? Some more of those would be nice....
We have hanging baskets on the lamp posts too :-)
All of the borough has hanging baskets on the lamp posts
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