Halloween Costumes for Urban Planners — 5th Edition

Halloween is almost here. Do you have a costume? Planetizen has a tradition of sharing costume ideas—see the 4th edition, 3rd edition, 2nd edition, and the 1st edition for more ideas. Here are a few fun ideas for city planning themed halloween costumes. 

Mixed Use Development: How about getting everyone in the family or your office to dress up as a different land use? Get your pet involved and the next thing you know you could have your own mixed use development.

Cards Against Urbanity: Planners loved the cards against urbanity game. Why not turn that into a costume? Make a sign board and write your favorite card onto your costume, such as: "Architects should really pay more attention to _______", filling in the blank with "a blue-haired amateur historian," "Mr. Monorail," or "Peak Beard."

Pedestrian Crossing: Amelia Costanzo, shown above, won the office costume contest at the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Council last year for her pedestrian crossing costume. This is a simple costume. Wear a black outfit. Create a large cardboard square painted yellow. Add black tape and create some straps. Next thing you know you can be your very own pedestrian crossing.

Crosswalk Signal: Okay, so if the pedestrian cross is just too pedestrian, step it up a notch for a night time party by creating a lit crossing signal. Using LED christmas lights, simply attach them to the edge of your clothing to create a human outline and pose in the walk and stop symbols. 

Green Energy: The U.S. Department of Energy proposed five options for green energy costumes. To be a solar panel just take some cardboard and coat it in cellophane. Use a silver permanent marker and some duct tape and you will be ready to create energy. 

Google Map: Love maps? Why not wear a Google Map costume? A simple cardboard cutout of the Google location pin and then decorate your shirt with a map. 

Car-I-Cature: Turn your bike into a car by creating a car-i-cature. This costume is sure to capture attention with a little paint and cardboard, plus your own bicycle. 

And don't forget that city planning costumes can be a family affair. The Central Ohio Transit Authority highlighted their favorite costume of last year, a child dressed up as a bus stop with a bus, shown below.

Of course, why stop with your personal costume. Centre County Pennsylvania took it to the next level, creating costumes for five of its busses. Students at Pennsylvania State University created a taco, bunny, spaceship, witch, and shark costume for the busses, as reported by the Centre Daily News.

Do you have a great city planning themed halloween costume sure to win the office costume party? Share your pictures and ideas in the comments below.