Idea 478 of 500. Cluster 26: The cities, one idea each
Kandy: the lake promenade with cafés and evening performances, not only the temple
The mechanism, from the book
Every city has one thing it could be known for, and most are not yet known for it.
Every idea in cluster 26 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Stand by the lake at dusk for 3 evenings and note where people stop, sit and look for something to do. Then approach 2 musicians or a dance troupe and one café owner near the water and propose a one-hour performance on a set night, paid from a small cover charge. One evening that fills the tables is the proof to take to the municipality.
- Who pays first
- A visitor in Kandy for the temple who has nothing to do after dark, and will pay for a table and a performance by the water.
- What leaves today
- Visitors see the temple in an afternoon and move on, so the evening spending and the second night's stay go to the next town.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
There's a song about this idea
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. SeventeenOne Building
One building, and what a city could be known for
More from cluster 26
- 476Colombo: a night market on the Galle Face Green run to a standard, every weekend
- 477Colombo: the Pettah as a managed market street, cleaned, lit and sold to visitors as the best bazaar in Asia
- 479Galle: the coral coast, the gardens of Hikkaduwa and the reef under Rumassala, where a visitor or a Sri Lankan abroad becomes a coral mum or a coral dad, with a coral in their name, the way people name a star, and a photograph of it every year as it grows
- 480Jaffna: the food the rest of the island does not have, odiyal kool, the crab curry and everything the palmyrah gives, cooked where it comes from and shown off to the world as a cuisine of its own
- 481Trincomalee: the summer beach town, sold for the months when the south-west coast has its monsoon
- 482Negombo: the first and last evening of every visit, 15 minutes from the airport, with the fleet coming in to the beach, the churches and the lagoon sold as the island's welcome and its send-off
Idea 478 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.