Brandon Schauer at Adaptive Path writes about an innovative new strategy for urban design being rolled out in San Francisco.
“Over the past 2 months the city government, in cooperation with business groups and non-profits, has turned a corner of one of the busiest intersections in San Francisco into a public plaza. The 17th Street Plaza project took 72-hours to implement, and is carefully called a ‘reversible trial.’”
He offers these three reasons for why faking it before you make it is a good idea.
* It costs little. The material and labor costs are much lower than a full implementation, and it saves thousands of hours of planning and debate
* It creates a lot of learning. The plaza isn’t perfect by any means, but it will help answer the important questions: Will people use the plaza? Will there be any negative side effects? What are the requirements for a plaza in this location?
* It wins hearts and minds. After seeing a real world mock-up, people have a clear understanding of what a plaza could be. It’s surprisingly better than many expected.
This is a great idea. What should we re-design in Tampa first?
