The Movement To Make Everyone Friendlier–With Urban Design

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In 2014, they put a bench in front of their house and, sitting on it, they started talking to the people who passed by. That one bench quickly grew into BenchesCollective, which de Reede calls “the world’s largest open-air café,” in 2014. After three years of steady growth, BenchesCollective organized its first weekend edition on July 1 and 2 of this year to encourage all members to host an activity around a public bench; more such events are planned for later this summer.

The idea behind BenchesCollective is to make productive use of the public benches that often sit in front of local businesses or homes. Residents or business owners can create a free account through the website, register their nearest bench using their address and email, decide its opening hours, and plan an activity that’ll draw visitors to it.

That, de Reede says, is where individuals’ creativity comes in. A bench “owner” can put out sidewalk chalk and encourage people to draw, line up a couple bottles of wine for a tasting, offer tarot card readings—whatever strikes their fancy.