Tactical Urbanism Testing Grounds

Improving the livability of our towns and cities commonly starts at the street, block, or building scale. While larger scale efforts do have their place, incremental, small-scale improvements are increasingly seen as a way to stage more substantial investments. This approach, which we call “tactical urbanism” allows a host of local actors to test new concepts before making long-term political and financial commitments. Sometimes sanctioned, sometimes not, tactical urbanism action is, as Nabeel Hamdi says, planning without the preponderance of plans. Mike Lydon, author of Tactical Urbanism will share tactics, project case studies, and insight into what Planetizen has called one of the top planning trends of 2011/2012.

Mike Lydon is the founding Principal of The Street Plans Collaborative, a planning, design, and advocacy firm based in Brooklyn, NY and Miami, FL. Before launching the firm in 2009, Mike worked for Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company. While at DPZ, Mike collaborated with Andres Duany and Jeff Speck in completing The Smart Growth Manual, honored by Planetizen as one of the top planning books of 2010. Mike is also the primary author of The Open Streets Project and Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action, Long-Term Change, Volumes I and II. Mike encourages you to trade four wheels for two.