It was about 1977 when folks from the Department of Public Works of my Stuttgart Borough of Bad Cannstatt engaged in some tactical urbanism by nailing railroad ties to the pavement of some streets in my neighborhood. In just a few hours they had some streets converted in segments of opposing one way streets to curtail cut-through traffic, had created pinch-points to slow traffic and installed the first ever counter-flow bike lane in all of the State. Baffled residents and drivers who hadn't followed the months of public debate in the local council were consoled by the assurance that this was only a test. Should it not work out, those tiles would be removed after at the latest three months, or earlier, should something appear to be dangerous.
Their experiments, though, never did lead to any out-of-the-ordinary traffic safety occurrence, and in fact, residents loved the newly more peaceful feel of the streets. Some eight years later, almost all chicanes and ties had been turned into permanent solutions with stone curbs, planters and finally traffic signs.
In 2009 New York's iconic Traffic Commissioner Janette Zadik Khan got out paint brushes and folding chairs and converted a section of Broadway at Times Square into a pedestrian precinct. In 2013 the matter was made permanent with some design help from Snohetta Architects.
In a time when neither Congress nor the local city council seem to be able to get anything of significance passed.... (Click below for full article)
Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects