Sidewalk Media

Sidewalk media. In places like NY where most people walk, the form of media changes from the now typical American format of billboards to newspapers stands and phone booth structures. The traffic is on the sidewalks as well as the streets. Any attempt at locating media for attention is grabbed. The antiquated phone booth has evolved into simply a profitable sidewalk billboard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/nyregion/17phones.html
The above article describes how the phone booths are profitable not in their use as a public phone but as a billboard for advertising. In a world of cellphones, the need for phone booths are small.

The location of such advertising is restricted to free standing units, not those next to a building. But what is the sidewalks use for advertising? What is the history of street scape as a commercial act and how does this evolve in the age of personal digital communications?

What is the future of media and the street? Who will have access and who won't. Is it a matter of public agency?