if you amber along the streets of a city, the collective aesthetic attitude of the city shows itself in its street signs, its shop fronts, its garbage bins, phone booths, lamp posts, and for us, most of all, its urban greenery. through these we can observe how much power the municipal authority has in relation to the power given to individuals (how much individual decisions can encroach into the public arena, for instance); who takes care of the greenery; how much care is given or minimized where possible; how nature is thought of in relation to human beings; who is the ‘target’ audience of such urban greenery; who actually gets to enjoy them; and finally, the sense of what is attractive or beautiful.

below, a series of urban greenery, shanghai to the left, and tokyo to the right: