One aspect of the urban environment that we find interesting is the establishment of the correct protocol for dealing with public social interaction. Exisitng examples include queuing in a particular way at certain bus stops or adhering to the no talking unless bumped into rules of sharing public transport. The recent smoking ban has offered an opportunity to witness the very quick establishment of a new cultural and social etiquette concerning smoking. Product manufacturers were able to to provide street bins with inbuilt ash trays and the process of stubbing out on the tops of bins has taken so well it is not unusual to see cigarette butts stubbed out of bins that lack the ashtray.
The use of small wall mounted ash trays outside of buildings has also become popular, and judging by the attached photographs perhaps the strength of cultural expectation to use these products has developed a little too effectively. The photos show what were once respectable lighting bollards that have suffered at the hands of smokers who appear to have broadly associated their shape with those of the new smokers bins. They also show how once a practice has been established it is copied and replicated by others, with mixed results!
