There’s a great exhibition at the Boston Society of Architects down by South Station called “Reprogramming the City” (http://bsaspace.org/exhibitions/reprogramming-the-city/).  It is all about small but significant design tweaks for urban infrastructures, imaginative and enlivening, from all over the world.  There are lamp-posts that include deployable umbrellas for shelter during rain and snow, bus stop walls that light up during the darkness of winter to prevent seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and billboards that become bamboo forests to clean the air or have small apartments attached to their back sides or that gather and store potable water.

My favorite is the Dutch Goedzak:

Meaning both “good bag” and “do-gooder” in Dutch, Goedzak is a bag for Amsterdam residents to use when packaging their trash for pickup, ideal for items that are still useable for others, and just in need of a new home.  

Goedzak is, says Waarmakers [the designers], “a friendly way to offer products a second chance and stimulate sustainable behavior.”

The exhibition closes on September 29, 2013 and, if you are in Boston, it’s a fine way to stimulate your urban dreaming.