Citizens of Thessaloniki, Greece can bring their plastic household waste to a “zero waste lab,” use software to design their own custom recycled street furniture and watch it take form via 3D printer. The project is the latest from “Print Your City,” a creative initiative by Dutch research and design studio The New Raw that combines DIY urbanism interventions with smart use of freely available materials.

The team hopes to create circular waste streams within the city, engaging local residents in the process and enhancing public spaces at the same time. Print Your City takes municipal plastic waste, grinds it up into pellets or flakes and feeds it into 3D printers to produce street furniture that’s extremely tough and durable.

With this project, the power to shape the looks and functionality of public furniture is in the hands of the people who will be using it – a concept that could be extended to all sorts of endeavors to contribute to a more equitable world. Residents turned furniture designers can come up with virtually any shape or color they want, add features like built-in planters or bike racks and decide where their creation should be placed.

The New Raw’s initial prototype for the Thessaloniki project was a half bench, half planter that required about 100kg of plastic waste to create, noting that the average EU citizen generates about 31kg each year. A bunch of the prototypes were placed around Thessaloniki’s Nea Paralia waterfront promenade to gauge public interest and the city responded with over 3,000 user-submitted designs, some of which will begin to appear in the city’s Hanth Park this month.

“Plastic has a design failure,” says Print Your City founders Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki. “It is designed to last forever, but often we use it once and throw it away. With Print Your City, we endeavor to show a better way of using plastic in long lasting and high value applications.”

Packing down nearly as flat as they were before they were modified, six interlocking structures made of pallets unfold to reveal a variety of seating options with greenery poking out of the bench backs. Johannesburg artist r1 was asked to develop the public seating as part of a residence program in the city aiming to enliven public space and come up with innovative ways to contribute to the community.

All six units can be combined into one larger structure, grouped together in smaller configurations or used alone. Each one contains two fold-down benches that can be used back-to-back, side-to-side or on a diagonal.

Made of discarded pallets, each one is on wheels so it can be moved quickly and easily. In addition to providing comfortable places for locals to congregate, the seats bring a little greenery into the urban environment.

Other unconventional iterations of urban furniture have included UFO-inspired loungers, ‘stair squares’ and even seats that require strangers to interact with each other.

Sometimes you wish the whole loud, distracting, eavesdropping world would just go away, especially when you’re trying to work on your computer or take a private phone call. These clever chair designs will make you feel like it really has with soundproofing elements, hoods and booth-like shields that provide a sense of peace and privacy even if you’re stuck in a busy airport, office or hotel lobby.

Womb-Like Hush Seating

Hide yourself in a cocoon of wool to work on your laptop or take a little time to yourself. Designer Freyja Sewell’s HUSH looks like an incredibly cozy space, envisioned for busy hotels, airports, offices and libraries.

Objet-O Chair

A massive paper lantern fits onto the back of a chair to offer light and privacy in one, in this fun idea by Korean designer Song Seung-Yong.

Windowseat Lounge

This sleek, colorful chair features a built-in canopy that shields the user from distractions while still allowing you to lean back and peek around it.

‘Firstcall’ Chair Phone

Need to take a phone call, but there’s no private place to go? Take a seat in the ‘Firstcall’ chair by Dutch designer Ruud van der Wier. Shaped like a classic phone, the padded fabric material of the chair shields the user’s head to mute background noise.

Peekaboo Cantilevered Wing Chair

The top of the Peekaboo cantilevered wing chair flips down to provide total sound-absorbing privacy whether you want to make a private call, take a nap or just have a few moments of quiet time. Made of molded formfelt, it features a plexiglass panel in the hood so you can still see around you while inside.

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Antisocial Seating 14 Distraction Cutting Privacy Chairs

The boring benches installed in urban areas around the world are purely functional: you take a seat for a little while, and then you leave. But why shouldn’t public furniture be visually interesting, comfortable and even interactive as well? These 14 chairs, benches, loungers, tables and more often double as art objects, with designs that consider a wide range of needs.

Chitchat Swinging Seat

(image via: contemporist)

Forcing strangers to interact in order to keep their balance, the ‘CHITCHAT’ public seating concept by Dutch designer Teun Fleskens encourages conversation with humor – and good looks. The seat for seven rocks back and forth on its rounded base. Says the designer, “The ice is broken, the atmosphere has improved, and waiting has quickly become much less boring. The ‘rocking trees’ in the centre ensure a playful effect, especially when there are several CHITCHATS in a single space.”

El Filosofo Bench

(images via: bdbarcelona)

The flowing landscape-like shapes of The Swiss benches by Alfredo Häberli fill the needs of various personalities who might use them while waiting for the bus or stopping for a break. The benches, which have names like ‘El Filosofo’ (the philosopher) and El Solitario (the loner), include seating that either allows socialization with others or discourages it with separated seating. One bench, ‘El Banquero’, offers not a seat but rather an elevated platform for standing and eating, using a laptop or reading a newspaper.

TIME: Green Public Seating

(images via: woo home)

This clever and eco-friendly idea for public seating includes wooden benches and grassy platforms supported by wood and stone bases, bringing greenery to spaces where there was none. Spelling out the word ‘TIME’, the benches were installed by designer Dominik Schwarz at the Piazza-Tribunale in Bolzano, Italy for the Time Code Festival.

Skystation

(images via: design boom)

People join together to lounge in the sun or gaze at the stars on designer Peter Newman’s ‘Skystation’, a public seating concept displayed at London’s Hayward Gallery. Resembling a miniature UFO, the round lounger has curves that perfectly support the reclining human body.

Stair Squares by Mark Reigelman

(images via: mark reigelman)

People rest and relax on public steps anyway, why not give them a comfortable way to do so? Stair Squares, a concept by Mark Reigelman, are little blue tables that fit perfectly onto steps to offer little tables for eating and reading. The stairs were installed on the front steps of Brooklyn’s Borough Hall in the summer of 2007.

Urban Adapter Bench

(images via: rocker-lange)

This design proposal for a modern urban bench considers the varying needs of different people who might use it. The designers, Rocker Lange, use a computer program that takes data about the intended site and creates a form that offers multiple seating solutions including a flat bench, a sloped area for lounging and a seat with a  back.

Hydraulic Convertible Benches

(images via: dornob)

This smart set of hydraulic benches is flush with the ground when not in use, but those who want to sit down can simply pull a lever and watch it rise up. Designed by Carmela Bogman and Rogier Martens to give the public a little more control over the urban environment, the benches can be raised to the desired height for the particular people who want to use them.

Loop Bench by Jeppe Hein

(images via: swiss miss)

What looks like a roller coaster or a slide from far away is actually a fun and clever bench. The Loop Bench was installed at Art Basel Miami in 2009, and was designed by Jeppe Hein.

Leaning Mold by Maruja Fuentes

(images via: coroflot)

Making it more comfortable to lean against a wall, Leaning Mold by Maruja Fuentes is made up of interlocking pieces in two designs – one flat, the other convex – that fit together into customizable patterns. “Since the space is transitional, the needs of all passengers are taken in consideration. The design is made for a person to lean while waiting, leaving space for the other passengers to pass by without congesting the corridors.”

MUU Bike Table

(images via: muu)

What if people could simply use their bicycles for seating? The clever PIT IN by Store MUU functions as both a bike stand and a table, so that users can simply ride right into place for a coffee break or to quick emails. Made of plywood for interior use and plastic for exterior use, the PIT IN could be ideal for street-side cafes in cities with heavy bicycle use.

Modular Public Furniture by Escofet

(images via: contemporist)

Pieces with seats on either side fit together to form circles in this interesting modular seating design. The circle of seating offers two modes: one that is closed off from the environment, providing a sense of solitude and separation, and one that allows the user to face out toward the city.

Skateable Park Benches

(images via: we make money not art)

Most public places don’t exactly encourage skateboarding, especially on benches and other seating areas. But this design for London by Tom Hawes, which blends into both traditional and modern environments, is intentionally skateable. “By virtue of its status as a misuse of public space, and because it is a symptom of defensive design, skateboarding is exceptionally good at drawing attention to the quietly exclusionary nature of modern public space,” explains Hawes. “Older children and young adults are either not considered in urban planning or outright excluded from public spaces. Skateboarders add value to many unused public spaces and regulate possibly dangerous spaces with their presence.”

Mystery Spot Public Furniture

(images via: coroflot)

Designer Cameron Van Dyke offers this public bench entitled ‘Mystery Spot’, a stark white shape that is equal parts functional and decorative. Says Van Dyke, “Public seating in sculptural forms. This comfortable bench will seat two and provide variety of seating geometries across the width.”

Illuminated Stools

(images via: modern chair design)

Designed for the city of Sunderland, England, these illuminated stools by Charlie Davidson offer a small gathering place. Their rounded forms and rough textures call to mind boulders and stones, and the cut-outs in the center of each reflect light and give the stools a sculptural look.