Making Public Interventions in Today's Massive Cities

After reading Saskia Sassen's article, I began to think about examples of modest interventions in public spaces. I came across Tactical Urbanism, which states that they take short term actions that cause long term chance. Tactical is defined as retaining to small-scale actions serving larger purpose or adroit in planning or maneuvering to accomplish a purpose. Tactical Urbanism is an approach that features five characteristics; a deliberate, phased approach to instigating change, the offering of local solutions for local planning challenges, short-term commitment and realistic expectations, low-risks with a possibility of high reward and the development of social capital between citizens.

One of the group's interventions include Park(ing) Day, where people reclaim space devoted to automobiles and increase the vitality of street life. This event in now world wide and cities like Paris, Tehran, and Hangzhou, China have participated in this event.

Another intervention is called pavement to plazas. The purpose of this intervention is to reclaim underutilized and inefficiently used asphalt as public space without a large outlay of capital. One such example is the Times Square Pedestrian Plaza. Following the implementation of the new Times Square Pedestrian Plaza, injuries to motorists and their passengers declines by 63%. Similarly, pedestrian injuries decreased 35%, even while pedestrian traffic increased.

One last intervention is called Guerrilla Gardening, which was developed to increase more greenery and gardening into the urban environment and is now an international movement. Guerilla Gardening is the act of gardening on public or private land without permission. Typically the sites chosen are vacant or underutilized properties in urban areas. The movement first began in 1973 when New York City activists threw condoms with local seeds, water and fertilizer into vacant lots.