Good ideas

Die beiden Ideen, die wir hier vorstellen, haben eins gemeinsam: Sie wollen unser Leben verbessern oder zumindest leichter machen.

Full marks to...

…the Wild West End garden, for improving air quality and bringing tranquility to busy shoppers in London.

The Wild West End garden won a gold medal at the 2018 Chelsea Flower Show. In late June of last year, it was transplanted to Old Quebec Street, off Oxford Street, in the heart of London’s busy shopping district. Designed by award-winning landscape architect Kate Gould, the garden features plants that were chosen for their air purification qualities. Entry to the garden is free of charge.

“I hope the garden thrives, is well used and helps to improve the air quality for visitors and residents of the West End,” Gould told

The Guardian. “I feel it is imperative to create healthier spaces for people living in and frequenting the city.” An estimated 142 million people shop at the 260 Oxford Street stores every year.

Wild West End (a reference to a Dire Straits song) is a partnership of property owners who want to increase green space in the city. The project has so far installed green roofs, beehives and boxes for birds and bats.

www.wildwestend.london

Full marks to…

…Orange Sky’s mobile laundry

and shower service, for helping homeless people get clean and feel better about themselves.

Orange Sky currently operates 27 mobile services in Australia; it began operating in New Zealand in October of 2018 and plans to expand to the US. Generators and solar energy power the machines, which are operated by volunteers.

In 2014, co-founder Lucas Patchett and three friends started the service. They used a van containing a washer and dryer, which they drove to parks, churches and drop-in centres for the homeless. “We strongly believed that access to hygiene was a basic human right,” Patchett told The Guardian.

Phil Twyford, New Zealand’s housing and urban development minister, says Orange Sky gives homeless people dignity and self-respect. “While superficially the service is about clean clothes and showers, the main benefits are the social interactions,” Twyford comments.

Patchett says the service is especially useful for homeless women. “There was a woman who came to shower and she said she hadn’t had a safe space to do that for a number of years.”