Type: Tactical Urbanism Demonstration Project Series
Size: 11 Projects (6 Counties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura)
Status: Complete
Street Plans, together with Alta Planning + Design, designed and implemented seven Tactical Urbanism projects as part of the Southern California Association of Governments’ (SCAG) Go Human region-wide safety and encouragement campaign. The primary goal of the Tactical Urbanism component of the campaign was to promote region-wide walking and biking, and allow residents to temporarily experience roadways that are designed for people – not just cars. The projects were implemented in 11 cities across the SCAG region during 2016-2017. Project types ranged from open streets events to demonstration projects (such as pop-up bike lanes and temporary traffic circles or curb extensions), depending on each city’s goals.
The first of the eleven projects was completed on October 2016 in Long Beach, CA. Dubbed “Activate Uptown,” the project featured an open streets event as well as a temporary bicycle boulevard. Street Plans led design and materials procurement for the bicycle boulevard, which included art crosswalks, a traffic circle, and other features. These temporary treatments allowed event attendees to experience an enhanced walking and biking boulevard, catalyzing momentum towards permanent change in the future. The second event occurred December 2016 in Cudahy, CA. This event featured a demonstration traffic circle, temporary bikeway markings, as well as a number of pedestrian safety improvements (such as curb extensions) near a local school. The third event in Garden Grove, CA featured demonstrations of protected bike lanes, art crosswalks, and a neighborhood greenway.
On Saturday, December 3rd, 2016 Street Plans implemented the second of seven demonstration projects in Cudahy, California, which featured a temporary protected bike lane, a pop-up traffic circle, and sidewalk extensions. This project also celebrated the kick-off to the LA River Upper Segment Revitalization Plan. The street safety projects not only slowed down traffic, but also created easier access to the LA River Bike Path.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2017, Street Plans helped deliver similar Tactical Urbanism projects in additional locations including the cities of Rialto, Rancho Cucamonga, and Riverside. The project series ended in June of 2017 with an Orange County project, in partnership with OC Parks and the cities of Anaheim and Yorba Linda.
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”10″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”100″ thumbnail_height=”75″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”20″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”1″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show as slideshow]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]
On Thursday, September 14th, Street Plans’ Principal Mike Lydon will give a keynote lecture on Tactical Urbanism at Helsinki Design Week, the largest annual design festival in the Nordic countries. “Short-term, community-based projects – from pop-up parks to open streets initiatives – have become a powerful and adaptable new…
A recent article from African Urbanism, an urban planning blog about developments in West African cities, discussed whether Tactical Urbanism was viable in African cities. The article mentions Street Plans and the recent popularity and emergence of Tactical Urbanism as a legitimate planning method. Street Plans certainly agrees with the…
The Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works installed a one-year complete streets pilot project. The short-term, low-cost pilot will test a red bus-only lane, Downtown Miami’s first ever bike lane, enhanced crosswalks, and a lowered speed limit. “I’m feeling encouraged. The impact of this project alone may not…
Next City, one of the leading sources of journalism on urban affairs, interviewed Street Plans’ Principal Mike Lydon to discuss how and why Street Plans is working with cities to sanction Tactical Urbanism. The article mentions Street Plans’ Tactical Urbanism workshop with the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas (pictured above)…
CityWorks Xpo, a national placemaking idea exchange and festival conference, interviewed Street Plans’ Principal Mike Lydon in a podcast released last week. Mike talks about how Tactical Urbanism allows cities and citizens to quickly make change to their streets, more broadly engage and cooperate with communities, and iteratively test various…
Street Plans’ Project Director Julie Flynn will speak to the Marin County Bicycle Coalition on Tuesday, August 1st, about the effectiveness that pilot bicycle improvements have in allaying a community’s fear of change, also known as NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard), and their ability to more quickly make safer streets. “Pilot…
StreetFilms released a new video discussing the most recent trends in the Tactical Urbanism movement and interviewed Street Plans’ Principal Mike Lydon. “Tired of waiting for local governments to fix dangerous conditions, in many cities everyday citizens are practicing DIY traffic-calming to make streets safer for walking and…
This week was the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Global Summit held in New York City. Street Plans took part in the Summit, leading a 3 hour workshop on Tuesday with 13 cities from around the world, helping them use the incremental approach of Tactical Urbanism to implement their…
The American Planning Association (APA) selected Street Plans’ session “Tactical Urbanism: People and Pavement” as one of the Top 10 sessions, out of more than 160, at the APA 2017 National Planning Conference (NPC) held back in May. The Tactical Urbanism session covered how local governments can create or alter policies…
Forbes recently spoke with Street Plans’ Principal Tony Garcia about Street Plans’ current work in Miami–the Miami-Dade Quickbuild Program–and the importance of Tactical Urbanism as a means to sparking long-term change in communities. “One of our main goals is to help officials think about small-scale projects as a way…
