DIY Urbanism

Close-up of pedestrian crossing button at a crosswalk in Los Angeles

Tactical Urbanism Makes Strides in L.A.

A DIY urbanism group in Los Angeles has successfully prompted the city to install permanent crosswalks at dangerous intersections, despite the city’s insistence that the group’s do-it-yourself work is illegal.

February 14, 2023 - LAist

Machine spraying white crosswalk lines on street

How Tactical Urbanism Succeeds Where Bureaucracy Fails

Making the case for do-it-yourself infrastructure.

December 5, 2022 - Bloomberg CityLab

Pop-Up Park

What Is Tactical Urbanism?

Tactical urbanism, one of the most common buzzwords in planning over the past decade, describes a variety of low-cost, incremental public realm design interventions.

June 16, 2022 - James Brasuell

Google Maps street view of intersection of Romaine and Serrano in Los Angeles, California

DIY Crosswalks Appear in Hollywood

A group claiming the city of Los Angeles fails to protect pedestrians is taking action on their own, painting a set of crosswalks at a busy residential intersection.

April 4, 2022 - NPR

Speed Limit

Scottish Town Tackles Speeders with Blow Dryers

Mimicking traffic cops, local townsfolk have resorted to speed checking passing cars with blow dryers.

February 27, 2017 - BBC

Traffic Cones

Traffic Safety Advocates Taking Action Into Their Own Hands

The San Francisco Transformation Agency is tired of watching cyclists and pedestrians die while the city promises more Vision Zero improvements.

August 10, 2016 - KQED

Pop Up Protected Bike Lanes

DIY Urbanism and Top-Down Planning

Though projects tend to be hyper-local and temporary, Do It Yourself, Tactical, or Guerrilla Urbanism is an endorsement of the top-down planning model, rather than a repudiation.

February 24, 2016 - Reuben Duarte

Park(ing) Day

Questioning the Privileges of Tactical Urbanism

Does tactical urbanism too-often benefit the point of view of a privileged population, leaving behind more pressing needs?

May 16, 2014 - The University of Chicago Urban Network

One Possibility for Activating Vacant Storefronts in Small Cities

A post on the blog for Utile, a Boston-based architecture and urban planning firm, recommends the coffee cart as a bit of DIY urbanism for cities like Lawrence, Massachusetts.

April 4, 2014 - Utile's Blog

Sick of Speeding, Baltimoreans Deploy DIY Traffic Calming

Fed up with speeding cars, and a city bureaucracy seen as slow to respond to their complaints, residents and artists in Baltimore have taken it upon themselves to remedy the situation by creating their own traffic calming measures.

December 30, 2013 - Baltimore City Paper

An image of a parkcycle on the street

Have Parkcycle, Will Travel!

Ever wish your nearby park could follow you throughout the city, providing open space wherever you might be? An artist and landscape architect have created Parkcycle Swarm, a modular system of 'human powered mobile gardens'.

September 2, 2013 - THE DIRT

Cuffed for a Crosswalk: DIY Traffic Safety Intervention Gets Man Arrested

The arrest of a Vallejo, California man for painting a crosswalk at a dangerous intersection near his home is the latest guerrilla urbanist intervention to run afoul of the law.

June 4, 2013 - CBS Sacramento

Upending Trickle-Down Techniques for Creating Public Space

Michael Kimmelman looks at the wave of 'cheap, quick, temporary and D.I.Y.-style approaches' that are introducing a more successful means of creating public space than traditional trickle-down techniques.

May 31, 2013 - The New York Times

Canadian Officials See Long-Term Threat from Short-Term Urbanism

A series of tactical urbanist interventions inspired by a recent talk given by Mike Lydon, Principal of the Street Plans Collaborative, have raised the ire of the powers that be in the Canadian city of Hamilton.

May 11, 2013 - Raise the Hammer

Bogota Plans Mass Tactical Urbanism Offensive

This weekend, Bogota, Colombia will launch its second 100en1día (100 in 1 day) event, a blitz of urban interventions meant to multiply the impact of citywide citizen activism exponentially. Cities across the world are following their lead.

April 26, 2013 - This Big City

Greek Financial Crisis Inspires Inexpensive Urbanism

Vivian Doumpa looks at three examples of bottom-up urban interventions completed in Greece, which show that a font of citizen spirit and ingenuity can help overcome the most draconian austerity measures.

April 25, 2013 - Pop-Up City

Chicagoland Interventions Show the Value in Temporary Projects

Jared Green looks at some of the innovative projects recognized by Chicago's Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) for their ability to creatively transform blighted lots into community assets.

April 19, 2013 - ASLA The Dirt

'Crosswalk Vigilantes' Beset Pittsburgh

Diana Nelson Jones describes how residents of "one of the most spirited do-it-yourself neighborhoods in the city" took it upon themselves to improve pedestrian safety.

September 26, 2012 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

San Francisco Looks for the Next Big DIY Thing

With the global success of the city's homegrown "parklets" program firmly established, the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts is hosting a series of "urban prototyping" festivals in S.F. in the hopes of finding the next DIY superstar.

August 28, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Democratic Design Arrives at Venice Biennale

One of the highlights of the global architectural calendar, the Biennale is a place to share and discuss the big ideas impacting the field. For this year's U.S. Pavilion, curators are going small by showcasing 124 projects by self-empowered citizens.

August 24, 2012 - Art Info

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