Amsterdam bans creation of new hotels
Another piece in the overall strategy to reduce tourist flows to the city
Nostalgics can opt to buy a disused booth from the telecommunications company for 500 euros
Today, the German Deutsche Telekom announced the end of Telephone Boxes in the country, after 142 years of operation. Currently, there are 12,000 phone booths still in operation, however, after today, the company will deactivate the payment by coin system and people will only be able to use them with a phone card.
That function would also be deactivated, however, at the end of January 2023. Still, Deutsche Telekom will need at least until 2025 to remove the last boxes. Additionally, the company has said that it would leave behind around 3,000, which will be converted into small cell towers with small antennas to amplify mobile coverage.
The company has decided to make the move due to the Telekommunikationsgesetzes (Telecommunications Act) from 2021, which ended the mandate to operate public phones. This is because enough people use cell phones and emergency calls are easier with them.
The first so-called 'Telephone Kiosk' (Fernsprechkiosk) in Germany opened in Berlin in 1881. In the years that followed, the Bundespost, which existed between 1947 and 1994 managed the booths, which had a very distinctive yellow colour.
The booths saw their peak popularity in the mid-1990s, when they could be found at stations, in residential neighbourhoods and even at the edges of forests. When Telekom took over from Bundespost, it had to manage 160,000 phone booths.
Moreover, as Tagesschau reports, the booths are energy guzzlers, each using up between 500 and 1,250-kilowatt hours of energy per year.
Yellow phone boxes are hard to find these days, despite their long history
Source: Depositphotos
There is a lot of nostalgic interest in the old phone boxes, including from museums like the Communications Museum in Frankfurt. Phone boxes are often used as hip furniture as well - think bookcases, mini recording studios or even shower stalls.
People can buy discarded and used German phone boxes from Deutsche Telekom itself for around 500 euros. The old yellow boxes have been sold out from Telekom’s stock for years, according to a company spokesman.
The building will then serve as the site for a new museum dedicated to Finnish-Russian relations
Another piece in the overall strategy to reduce tourist flows to the city
The previous mayor was forced out of office following a no-confidence vote in the city council
In addition, the federal government has launched the National Week of Action against Bicycle Theft to raise awareness of the issue and the new solution
The facility will replace the need to have water supplied by tankers from Valencia
Modern traffic lights do more than regulate the flow of vehicles at crossroads, they also collect enormous amounts of data
It also set the standards for a better European parking card for people with disabilities
Everyone’s invited free of charge, but only after registration
Italian cities and regions continue experimenting with creative proposals to curb overtourism effects
It also set the standards for a better European parking card for people with disabilities
Italian cities and regions continue experimenting with creative proposals to curb overtourism effects
The building will then serve as the site for a new museum dedicated to Finnish-Russian relations
Urban dwellers across the EU are having a say in making their surroundings friendlier to people and the environment.
Forests in the EU can help green the European construction industry and bolster a continent-wide push for architectural improvements.
Apply by 10 November and do your part for the transformation of European public spaces
Catch up with some recommendations for the 2024 European Capital of Culture programme from the mayor of Tartu
An interview with the ICLEI regional director for Europe аfter the close of COP28
An interview with a member of the No Hate Speech Network team