In its 2024 list of places in “ugly France”, the Paysages de France association singles out a telecommunications pylon located at the Port.
A telecommunications pylon is already not very attractive. Adding advertising doesn't necessarily improve things.
In any case, the Paysages de France association, which each year pinpoints places symbolizing the “ugly France“, has just published its 2024 rankings, and Reunion Island is there. At the Port, a telecommunications pylon, displaying three logos of an operator on the island, far exceeds the coconut trees planted nearby.
“Three brands, clearly doped, compete with the trees in an unfair manner. Is the SFR necessary?“, asks the caption of the photo.
Especially since, according to the association, in many cases it is up to the mayor – who has police powers – to remedy this visual pollution, quite simply by enforcing the Environmental Code.
In the case of the Port, this advertising sign located at a height of 45 meters would contravene the Environmental Code, which provides for a maximum of 6.50 meters for this type of advertising display.
Just like the Port pylon, various advertising panels photographed in Yvelines, in Seine-Maritime, or even advertising installations in the metro in Paris, are considered “ugly” by the members of Paysages de France who are at the origin of the photos.
“The beautiful, the ugly, it is of course subjective… It is up to everyone to open their eyes and take their own look at the places chosen. This is not a ranking of the ugliest cities, but of four places in France, in four communes of France, which, for us, represent a bit of ugly France“, specifies the association.
“Let us hope that these 2024 prices will continue to open the eyes of those who seem to turn a blind eye in the name of progress and modernity in the face of sprawling commercial zones, streets saturated with advertising panels or galloping concrete construction… So as not to get used to ugliness”
French Landscape Association