Ads-free streets: let’s give public space back to citizens

If we have regulations for tobacco and alcohol ads, why don’t we have one to limit the promotion of fossil fuel products and services?

Why cover our buildings with huge billboards encouraging us to buy goods produced far away that we don’t really need?

In Energy Cities, we love bringing our members together to inspire each other. Today, we share a great example of commitment towards a sufficiency lifestyle. Philippe Guelpa-Bonaro is Vice-President of the Lyon Métropole for climate, energy, and the reduction of advertising. During Energy Cities’ Annual Conference in June, we interviewed him to learn more about the significant steps that Lyon Métropole is taking to reduce advertising from public spaces.

How’s Lyon Métropole reducing advertising in public spaces?

We had a campaign commitment to significantly reduce advertising and to ban digital screens. The Lyon Métropole voted in June 2023 on a local advertising regulation for the entire metropolitan area, covering all 58 municipalities, and addressing both advertisements and billboards. The regulation allows for at least a 75% reduction in the number of advertising panels in the Lyon Métropole, and the maximum size of the remaining panels is reduced from 12 to 4 m². Additionally, we no longer want these digital screens in public spaces, as they catch the eye and capture our attention without our consent. Therefore, we removed them from the metro, and since we could not ban them (French law prohibits us from doing so) in shop windows, we reduced their size to 1 or 2 m² depending on the space, with only static images, which diminishes the appeal of digital advertising. We also removed rooftop advertisements and banned construction site advertising banners, which can sometimes be 50 or 100 m² and are a visual assault, especially in a city with such significant historical heritage as Lyon.

You are the Vice-President for energy, climate, and advertising reduction. How are these subjects related?

Climate-wise, it is important to reduce advertising. We consume too many goods produced with too much energy. We need to produce less and better. External advertising encourages mass overconsumption and makes us buy things we don’t necessarily need. This has energy impacts and affects human resources, as well as water and minerals. Also, a 2 m² digital panel consumes as much electricity as a French household in a year. We cannot ask people to turn off their lights or lower their heating at home while we have digital screens promoting online betting, environmentally harmful cars, or flights that contribute to worsening climate change. Finally, the goal of reducing advertising is also to give more visibility to local shops, artisans, and other professionals who support the economic ecosystem of the Lyon Métropole, creating jobs and social connections. Reducing advertising is a rebalancing act that benefits these professionals.

Lyon is one of ENC’s members committed to banning advertising from public spaces. What are your suggestions for cities interested in reducing advertising?

I would first advise cities to engage with people. When we asked the question, at least 80% of our fellow citizens were in favour of reducing advertising. This greatly helps convince professionals and other elected officials to implement advertising reduction measures. Small shopkeepers will also see these measures very favourably. Another challenge is to dare to be bold because when we propose to reduce panel sizes from 20 or 30 m² to 2 m², we might only achieve a reduction to 4 or 8 m², but that would still be a significant effort to reduce the presence of advertising in public spaces.

How can France and Europe support cities and metropolises in this effort?

In France, local authorities have the right to regulate the size and number of advertising panels, but not the content. We cannot ban advertisements for petrol-consuming cars, aeroplanes, alcohol consumption, or adverts exploiting women’s bodies as a marketing tool, which also poses societal problems beyond energy and climate. We enacted the Evin Law in the 1990s to reduce advertising for alcohol and tobacco; why not have a law to ban advertising for products or services that worsen climate change? Or to allow territories to act on the content of advertisements? In France, we are quite protected: we don’t have digital screens on historical monuments or massive advertisements, compared to other places, like here in Valencia, with no density rules and with maximum sizes almost four times larger than in France. An issue that the EU could address is to standardise the maximum size of advertisements and density rules. To support its climate neutrality narrative, the EU should adopt regulations to ensure consistency in the urban landscape and limit advertising that encourages overconsumption.