Sidewalk obstacles

"The following objects can make a sidewalk difficult for some users to traverse if they protrude into the pathway or reduce the vertical or horizontal clear space: Awnings, Benches, Bike racks, Bollards, Cafe tables and chairs, Drinking fountains, Fire hydrants, Folding business signs, Grates, Guy wires, Landscaping, Mailboxes (public and private), Newspaper vending machines, Parking meters, Planters, Public telephones (mounted), Puddles, Signal control boxes, Sign poles, Snow, Street vendors' carts, Street light poles, Street sculptures, Telephone booths, Telephone/utility poles and their stabilizing wires, Traffic sign poles, Transit shelters, Trash bags and cans, Tree, bush, and shrub branches, Utility boxes"

Found in sidewalk design Why do I blog this? browsing some resources about sidewalk design... after reading papers about how space is not uniform and homogeneous. What I find important in this list is the idea that space is filled with different type of objects, that have particular qualities (without any equivalent in a digital world).

Would these elements be problem or opportunities for a ubiquitous computing city?

colored tubes

The picture shows some pavement obstacles encountered few months ago in Geneva.