Did you know planters could enhance the overall safety, function and beauty of your city? New York City and other major US cities have used our planters to accomplish all of this and more. All it takes is a little greenery and some quality planning to create multi-functional spaces that enhance your city in more ways than one.
How Our Planters Add Functionality
Planters Create An Attractive Border
In New York City, our planters create a pedestrian border in Times Square, one of the most highly trafficked places in the United States. Planters can offer a lot of functionality when you use them as attractive borders to block off certain areas or direct pedestrian traffic. Planters are great barricades and they don’t even have to be tall to discourage people from hopping over them. Yet, they are much more attractive than a fence or other type of barrier.
Increase Pedestrian Traffic & Local Sales
We worked with Sadik-Khan to create a safer and friendlier version of Times Square. The results have been nothing short of amazing, including boosting local retail sales while granting pedestrians more space to walk. The redesign also brought more people to the already popular public space. According to The New York Times, renovations increased pedestrian traffic by 11%.
Promote Local Wildlife
Another function of planters includes helping create healthier wildlife and local ecosystems. Insects and animals struggle to survive in urban environments, but they don’t have to. All we need to do is provide more greenery for them to thrive on and we will all benefit from a boost in local animal habitats.
Reduces Graffiti
Planters can be placed in certain areas that are prone to graffiti in order to make it harder for artists to tag your building, wall, etc. You might be thinking… but then they’ll just tag my planters! Let them, it won’t matter anyways, so long as you have our resin-based LLDPE planters that are resistant to most stains including graffiti. A little scrubbing is all it takes to wipe away graffiti from our planters.
Attract More People
People are naturally attracted to pretty spaces, which means an area of downtown adorned in overflowing planters is going to naturally draw in larger crowds. Which brings us to our next point…
How Our Planters Add Beauty
The whole beauty thing is pretty self-explanatory. A planter contains flowers, trees and other forms of pretty foliage, but with this beauty comes additional benefits.
A Strong & Prideful Community Is A Beautiful Thing
A beautiful environment plays on community heartstrings, increasing local moral and making people proud to call their city home. When people value where they live they take better care of it, and the city looks better for it.
Native Plants Are Affordable & Low Maintenance
Adding beauty to the streets of your city can cost you a fortune or be relatively affordable, that depends how you go about it. Using planters overflowing with native plants offers a beautiful look for a very small overall investment. Not to mention, native plants are low maintenance, meaning long-term care is easy and affordable.
Attract Local Wildlife
Since native plants benefit local wildlife, the right plants will attract butterflies and other pretty critters that make for a lovely breath of fresh air.
Hide Eyesores
Planters can be used to hide certain eyesores, such as electrical boxes, that detract from a city’s beauty.
Planters That Look Great For Years To Come
Our resin-based LLDPE planters are stronger than anything else on the market. They can withstand a great deal of wear and tear, impact damage, UV rays and so much more. We add additional UV-12 inhibitors during the manufacturing process to further safeguard our products against sun damage. As a result, they look great for many more years than traditional planters.
How Our Planters Enhance Safety
You might be thinking: How in the world can planters make my city safer? But trust us on this one; according to the numbers they can increase local safety in more ways than one.
Greener Cities Have Less Crime
According to the research, greener cities are safer cities with decreased levels of domestic disputes and street violence. So first and foremost, planters bring greenery and added peace to your city. While it’s not always possible to add planted trees or plants to city sidewalks, planters can be placed virtually anywhere regardless of soil quality or available space.
Pretty Barricades Keep Pedestrians Safer
Using planters as barricades can increase pedestrian safety by channeling them in the right part of the road or sidewalk.
The changes implemented in NYC’s Time Square, which included using our planters as barricades, increased safety considerably. The New York Times reported 63% fewer injuries regarding drivers and passengers, and 35% fewer pedestrian injuries.
Cleaner Air = Healthier Cities
Trees and plants reduce air pollution, which in turn makes for healthier cities. Considering millions of people die every year due to issues related to air pollution, it’s safe to say that the more planters overflowing with greenery in your city, the safer and healthier locals will be.
Plants actively remove harmful pollutants from the air by absorbing gases through their leaves and roots. A NASA study found plants are highly effective at removing airborne VOC’s including toluene, octane, benzene and trichloroethylene. Urban cities have the highest pollution levels, meaning they need as many plants as possible.