He always liked to transform the cities and allow the meeting between the inhabitants to make them happy. Geneva’s Dan Acher presented an original idea; The Neighbourhood Exchange Box.Thanks to his creative agency Happy City Lab, the project envisages reciprocity between neighbours. It brings a new dimension to the neighbourhood and a sense of belonging and attachment to the local community by creating opportunities for exchange and contact. “In cities, people do not exchange, no longer look at each other. Carried away by the whirlwind of life, we forget almost our peers,” explains artivist Dan Acher.
It brings a new dimension to the neighbourhood and a sense of belonging and attachment to the local community.
It all started in 2011. After cleaning his apartment, Dan Acher put unused goods on the street for garbage collectors to take them to the dump. However, one day, he notices that some people are taking these objects that he threw out. A great idea struck his mind and he opened Happy City Lab.
From games to books; DVD’s or CD’s, you just have to drop them in the various Neighbourhood Exchange Box in your region and pick up whatever items that you want or need. It’s so simple. The environmental benefits of increasing reuse are evident, but from the perspective of the project creator, there is more in the Neighbourhood Exchange Program than just going green.
This project was very successful in allowing Geneva to reuse up to 32 tonnes of goods. Dan Acher, who lives for his projects, admits to having more than 150 new ideas on his agenda. This social entrepreneur is now part of the conquest of this happiness, which is present but must be provoked. “The extraordinary is around us, it’s up to us to make it spring up,” Dan Acher concluded. If the Swiss have done it, why not you?
