A Planner's Halloween: Unsafe Streets, Haunted Cities, and Clever Costumes

I set out this morning to find all the Halloween-related content I could find. I especially was hoping to find tons of clever new examples of planning-, urbanism-, and transportation-related Halloween costume ideas to add to Planetizen's growing record of the genre.

We'll get to those eventually, but first, I have to point out something I'm sure you'll have noticed as well. By my unofficial count, 99.9 percent of all transportation-related Halloween content amounts to begging the public to drive safely.

News Advisory: PBOT joins @PortlandPolice and @PDXFire to urge Portlanders to travel with extra care on #Halloween https://t.co/V1nrgMKBGT#pdxtraffic #pdx pic.twitter.com/pvF9QbxAwu

— Portland Bureau of Transportation (@PBOTinfo) October 30, 2018

Halloween safety tip: Always take a well-lit path, especially at night. Students and staff can utilize late night transportation services by calling (734) 647-8000.#GoBoo pic.twitter.com/aY5SJOUHWz

— U-M DPSS (@umichdpss) October 27, 2018

Costumes should be spooky; celebrating shouldn't be. Don't be boozing and cruising – now THAT is spooky! #Halloween #BeSafeDriveSmart #PlanWhileYouCan @JMO_313 pic.twitter.com/uTWkBf1QKZ

— Texas Department of Transportation (@TxDOT) October 27, 2018

If you'll excuse some gallows humor on this most unholy of days: the greatest horror on Halloween is the likelihood of getting run over by a speeding or inebriated driver. Cars are about 43 percent more likely to kill pedestrians on Halloween than a random autumn night, according to data cited in an article by Rachel Becker.

It's like all Halloween fun comes with a disclaimer about driving safely, walking safely, and taking safe rides home, before the fun can even begin. The concern is high enough that some cities have highly-regulated Halloween behavior. It's horrifying that we can't all be safe while walking and driving the streets.

So, like the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, I have prefaced the fun Halloween content with a lecture. Now here's what I found while looking for Halloween fun on the Internet today, with a few classics of the genre thrown in.

Haunted Cities

There's lots of ways to find spooks in the dark corners of cities. If you're afraid of ghosts, maybe stay home and read about them instead.

Looking for Affordable Housing? Try Near a Cemetery (CityLab)
Looking for cheap rent? Try a haunted house (The Guardian)
A Haunted Tour of the Hudson River Tunnels (RPA Lab)
This Bethesda Parking Garage Might Be The Spookiest Place In The Region (DCist)

Costumes!

I buried the lede, but it's come back to life: planning costumes of course!

Don’t have a costume yet? Try our urbanist Halloween costume generator. (Greater Greater Washington)
Top Twin Cities Urbanist Halloween Costumes for 2018! (streets mn)
Tentacular evil emerges from the Philadelphia Navy Yard (The Architect's Newspaper)

oh my god someone went as 432 Park Avenue for Halloween AND posed in front of it, A for effort https://t.co/tj2KxetgLO pic.twitter.com/uYSJeEpzYQ

— Amy Plitt (@plitter) October 31, 2018

My kids are dressed up as a Metrobus driver and an old-time DC Streetcar operator and we got on a bus this morning with three @wmata trainees and it was pretty much the best bus ride of all time. Happy Halloween! pic.twitter.com/KT2O7yisyL

— Alex Dodds (@alexgdodds) October 31, 2018

The first pumpkin I’ve ever carved I made an @SFBART O L D B O I #BayAreaRidesTogether #SFBART pic.twitter.com/RaWCQqexC7

— MOSES (@_MMAYNEZ) October 28, 2018

Transportation ftw! @SFBART clipper card for #Halloween this past weekend pic.twitter.com/VMDYHk9z2C

— Jenn Li (@JennLi123) October 29, 2018

Some fabulous transportation-related kids' costumes for Halloween

two from @familyride and one from @wsferries and https://t.co/ntWNTGWk7I pic.twitter.com/jCkUs4zv7s

— Cathy Tuttle (@CathyTuttle) October 31, 2018

Archie, I've Fixed You Up With A Blind Date That Has Her Own Transportation!#Comics #Archie #ArchieComics @ArchieComics #Horror #HorrorComics #Halloween #Humor #HumorComics #Witches pic.twitter.com/OjnlbXc7Z4

— BrowseTheStacks (@BrowseTheStacks) October 31, 2018

Happy #Halloween! Our @NVTAuthority Comms Mgr @hawkeye_PR embraces #multimodal w/ a nod to E.T. & the iconic flying bike! #metrodc #transportation #spielberg pic.twitter.com/nHYpDbXdxk

— Northern Virginia's Transportation Authority (@NVTAuthority) October 31, 2018

Happy Halloween Here are some #spooky photos of Wynne Transportation having some decoration fun while doing some Campus Shuttling for an event! #HappyHalloween #gowynne pic.twitter.com/ynxBFnZ8WG

— Wynne (@GoWynneTX) October 31, 2018

Me: Are you Bridgegate?
Guy: I'm "Sexy Bridgegate." @mattkatz00 @WNYC pic.twitter.com/KQvqeMr8eu

— Sarah Aida Gonzalez (@GonzalezSarahA) October 31, 2016

for halloween i'm going as an architecture critic. gonna wear all black and generally act like a self-aggrandizing know-it-all jerk. sound right?

— mark lamster (@marklamster) October 31, 2018

Shoutout to this morning’s BART driver who clearly announces every stop, thanks everyone for riding, and wishes them a Happy Halloween
(it’s the little things, right?)

— Allison Arieff (@aarieff) October 31, 2018