Tactical Urbanism
Basics
Urban Designers Take a Do-It-Yourself Approach to Taming Houston’s Extra-Wide Streets
Impatient at the slow rate of change on Houston's streets, advocates and urban designers took it upon themselves to tame some of their city's wide roads -- and are promising to come back for a second round soon.
June 1, 2017
After Boston’s Mayor Blames Crash Victims, Pop-Up Comics Push for Better Bike Lanes
Boston's latest do-it-yourself bike lane intervention might seem a bit sketchy -- because it uses comics to prod City Hall for needed safety improvements.
May 22, 2017
Providence Will Keep DIY Plungers in Place to Prevent Cars From Clogging Bike Lane
Keeping cars out of bike lanes can seem like a Sisyphean task, particularly when a street design makes it easy for drivers to go where they shouldn't. But do-it-yourself attempts to stop automobile incursions have proven to be invaluable demonstrations of how simple steps can make a real impact -- from flowers in Boston to traffic cones in Brooklyn to human barriers in San Francisco.
May 12, 2017
Fast Changes to City Streets: A 9-Step Guide for Creative Bureaucrats
Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets.
March 28, 2016
500 People Ate Dinner on a Freeway in Akron This Weekend
How's this for a creative reuse of outdated 20th century infrastructure? This weekend, 500 people in Akron, Ohio, sat down and had dinner together on the Innerbelt Freeway.
October 5, 2015
Tactical Urbanism Win: Cyclist Protects Boston Bike Lane With Flowers
Even the most delicate barrier between bikes and auto traffic can change the behavior of drivers and make cycling a lot more appealing. Case in point: An ingenious bit of tactical urbanism in Boston this week resulted in a bike lane protected by $6 pots of hardware store mums.
September 11, 2015
Tacoma Vows to Prosecute Rogue Crosswalk Painters
A group calling themselves "Citizens for a Safer Tacoma" has painted five crosswalks around the city, in hopes of pressing officials to take pedestrian safety more seriously.
May 9, 2014
Guerrilla Crosswalk Turns Into Total Overhaul of New Haven Intersection
Some New Haven residents were fed up with a dangerous intersection near Yale University, where repeated requests for a crosswalk had gone ignored. So one night last May, they painted a zebra-striped crosswalk on Whitney Avenue near Audubon Street.
August 27, 2013
Q&A With Jason Roberts, the Brains Behind “Better Blocks”
The Better Block project, founded less than 10 years ago in Dallas, Texas, is not only changing streets for the better -- in many ways, it's changing the urban planning process.
May 31, 2013