Flat 5 Madrid has a fresh, clean-lined look with bright colours, flatscreen TVs, free wi-fi and flower boxes on the window sills.

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On Andy Beauchamp's street in the notoriously irritable south London neighborhood of Peckham, for example, almost every single doorstep is dressed with flower-filled planters and over-flowing window boxes after Beauchamp decided one day to start sticking plants in front of his neighbors' homes.

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An upstairs window opened in Verdun Crescent, hands clapped to dismiss a cat rooting in a flower bed.

NEWYORKER: Bravado