Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Tactical Urbanism

Temporary bike markings on Live Oak Street. Photo: Sam McNeill via Cite

Urban Designers Take a Do-It-Yourself Approach to Taming Houston’s Extra-Wide Streets

By Stephen Miller | Jun 1, 2017 | No Comments

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.

Comic characters in Boston's bike lanes remind drivers (and the mayor) that more can be done to improve safety. Photo: Jonathan Fertig

After Boston’s Mayor Blames Crash Victims, Pop-Up Comics Push for Better Bike Lanes

By Stephen Miller | May 22, 2017 | 108 Comments

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.

A row of plungers now keeps cars out of this bike lane in downtown Providence. Photo: WJAR-TV

Providence Will Keep DIY Plungers in Place to Prevent Cars From Clogging Bike Lane

By Stephen Miller | May 12, 2017 | 3 Comments

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.

Fast Changes to City Streets: A 9-Step Guide for Creative Bureaucrats

By Michael Andersen | Mar 28, 2016 | 1 Comment

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. For most of the 20th century, cities answered transportation problems by adding more pavement. More freeways. More lanes. More parking lots. More things that couldn’t be reversed or revised. So it made […]

500 People Ate Dinner on a Freeway in Akron This Weekend

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 5, 2015 | 1 Comment

How’s this for a creative reuse of outdated 20th century infrastructure?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. The event, dubbed “500 Plates,” brought together people from all over the city to talk about the future of the Innerbelt. The city is planning to decommission […]

Tactical Urbanism Win: Cyclist Protects Boston Bike Lane With Flowers

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 11, 2015 | 3 Comments

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. Jonathan Fertig told Streetsblog he was upset the city had […]

Show More Stories