Tactical Urbanism

Tactical Urbanism is an initiative based on community-led temporary projects intent on bringing about longterm change with the price of admission as low as yellow safety vests and inexpensive supplies like paint. It was considered illegal in most places in the early years, but over the past decade or so many municipalities have wised up to the benefits of fast, inexpensive, community-led work that usually gets wide public support. Quite a number of cities now contact local Tactical Urbanists about projects they would like to see done but for which there is not yet city funding, counting on the Tactical Urbanism community to get it kicked off effectively.

The breadth of organizational support for Tactical Urbanism characterizes it as a tree with many branches. Some of the most obvious ones are as follows:

Mike Lydon and Tony Garcia co-founded StreetPlans and wrote the first books on Tactical Urbanism.

Janette Sadik-Khan was the first Tactical Urbanism rockstar, serving as head of the New York City Department of Transportation during the Bloomberg administration and was the implementation linchpin of the tactical transformation of Times Square and Broadway and many related improvements that followed.

The Tactical Urbanist's Guide site is an implementation hub of books and other resources.

Streetsblog was founded in New York City in 2006 by Aaron Naparstek but has since grown into a nationwide network of nodes in several US cities.

The list of regional implementers is long; please let me know who your favorites are.