Idea 479 of 500. Cluster 26: The cities, one idea each
Galle: 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
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
Talk to a dive centre or a marine scientist on the coast near Hikkaduwa about growing corals on frames on the reef, and ask what permission that needs. Offer the first corals to visitors and to Sri Lankans abroad: a coral in their name, with a certificate and a photograph every year as it grows. The proof is the first corals adopted and paid for in advance.
- Who pays first
- A visitor who dived the reef, or a Sri Lankan abroad, who wants a living thing in their name off the Galle coast.
- What leaves today
- Visitors see the reef once and leave nothing behind; a coral in their name brings them back every year and pays for the reef.
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.
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
- 478Kandy: the lake promenade with cafés and evening performances, not only the temple
- 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 479 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.