My Work on DIY Urban Design Making Some Waves

As I grind out the final pieces of my dissertation, which I'll be defending in Chicago at the end of this month, it has been exciting to see my recent article (and video) stemming from this research getting some attention. In addition to the many kind words I've received from friends, colleagues, and fellow sociologists, several cool blogs have picked it up.

First among these was the very neat online magazine Ideas Arcade, who did a great write-up on DIY urban design, my work, and the video. Their passion, they say, is "finding and showcasing great projects and ideas which help better sustain us as people, cities, collectives and countries." I'm very pleased they feel my work fits the bill! (They were also really great about giving credit to everyone involved in the video!)

Then, Barbara Ray of the University of Chicago's Urban Network penned a more analytical piece emphasizing how my work revealed some of the potentially elitist aspects of DIY urban design, which is one of the focuses of my dissertation work. Ray also connected my findings (as I do) to the emerging urban planning trend known as "tactical urbanism," which has been popularized by my friend Mike Lydon.

This article then inspired a short piece by James Brasuell on the popular urban planning website Planetizen: "Questioning the Privileges of Tactical Urbanism."

In truth, it is incorrect to conflate DIY urban design and tactical urbanism as the same thing. While there is considerable overlap, there are also important differences (tactical urbanism includes and in celebrates official, above-the-board planning interventions that embrace the tactical approach of 'short term action / long-term change'; what I call DIY urban design is explicitly unauthorized and frequently one-off sorts of informal improvements). This is a discussion Mike and I have had often, and something I take up explicitly in my dissertation. Nonetheless I am pleased that my critical perspective on the aspects of privilege and inequity in DIY urbanism has gained some traction. I believe the phenomenon has great promise as an activator of critical awareness and engaged citizenship around urban planning issues, but my research shows that it unfortunately has the potential to perpetuate socio-spatial inequality and exclusivity as well. It's important to bring some healthy skepticism to anything that alters the lived spaces of urban communities, but while we are generally quick to deride the failings of planning bureaucracy or unhinged private development, this sort of discussion has largely been missing from the fanfare around all of these "informal," "spontaneous," "tactical," and "DIY" urbanisms. So I'm glad to have helped get it started.

Exciting News

After a long year on the academic 'job market' I'm thrilled to say that I have accepted a position at New York University's Institute for Public Knowledge as a postdoctoral research fellow. I'll be joining an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Institute, led by Eric Klinenberg. In particular, I'll be helping with the ongoing Rebuild by Design project, a massive and multifaceted policy, planning, and research initiative formed last year in response to the effects of Hurricane Sandy. I'm stoked to be able to continue my research agenda of studying the relationship between local culture and identity to the urban planning and development process through new scholarship of my own and on Rebuild by Design.

I will be defending my dissertation this summer (time to buckle down...) and look forward to starting at NYU in the Fall. (As an added bonus of this exciting position, I will be able to continue cycling from Fort Greene to the East Village all the time!)

From Parklets to People St.: City of L.A. Offers "DIY Kits" for Community Placemaking

One of the more important themes in my dissertation research on "do-it-yourself urban design" has turned out to be the increasingly obvious interaction between the tactics and aesthetics of informal, unauthorized community improvements and those of very official streetscape redesign efforts by some trend-setting major cities.

Probably the best example is the evolution, over a period of several years, of the once-clandestine Park(ing) Day movement into an international phenomenon (now often appropriated by local businesses and certified by authorities) and into the popular progressive planning trend of parklets. In San Francisco, where Park(ing) Day started with the radical architecture and design collective Rebar converting a single parking space into a temporary park in 2005, the idea was swiftly embraced by city officials and neighborhood boosters as a quick, cheap way to provide just the sort of novel public space amenities that hip young urbanites are looking for - some much larger than a parking space, some funded by major corporations, some designed by Rebar, now a successful agency with major civic clients. (The SF city planning department celebrates a variety of other "tactical interventions" as well). Many other cities have created official parklet programs too (I was interviewed in 2012 for an article about parklets in Chicago).

Well, the top-down embrace of DIY urbanism aesthetics continues at a fever pitch today with the City of Los Angeles's "People St." initiative. (Here's the post on the subject that caught my eye.) The City's Dept. of Transportation is officially asking citizens to use approved design "kits" to help create parklets, plazas, and bike corrals in order to "transform underused areas of L.A.'s largest public asset - our 7,500 miles of city streets - into active, vibrant, and accessible public space." Community groups can apply beginning today.

The City of Angels has fully embraced the language and the aesthetic of DIY and combined it with an official standardized process (plus a little cross-promotion thrown in for good measure).  As Victoria Young reports for PSFK:

The goal of the program is to improve the quality of life of Angelenos by providing a toolkit of cost-efficient design elements that can be quickly installed to help the city come alive with minimalist wood and steel planter boxes full of succulents, sleek picnic tables, and even GameTime exercise equipment [...]. Each kit contains packaged, required configurations for Plazas, Parklets, and Bike Corrals to choose from. Specifications provided in these documents simplify and automate the process, efficiently eliminating the need to reinvent the wheel for each project and streamlining the workflow with thoughtfully pre-approved design kits.

A parklet on Spring St. in Downtown Los Angeles. Source: Drew Ackerman, Flickr.

Some examples of the types of projects that People St. is promoting already exist in Los Angeles, including the above parklet, this bike corral in Highland Park, and the Sunset Triangle plaza in Silverlake. There's a lot to like here, whether or not one views this trend as DIY urban design "selling out" in a sense.  And the L.A. effort certainly responds to a need, not only for more public space and bicycle infrastructure at the expensive cars, but among citizens to make positive changes themselves. Several of my interviewees there said quite explicitly that they "wish the city would do it" so that they wouldn't have to. As one male cycling activist put it, "if there’s a place where we can do it […] up to spec and everything, we should be able to put it in ourselves."  This is pretty much exactly what LADOT is hoping. 

Of course, there are still reasons to keep a critical eye on these efforts. Not least is that, while they are touted as ways of expanding a city's public space (they are, after all, small parks), from the way the application/approval process is structured to the basic realities of contemporary urban economics, they can tend to wind up as little more than cute extensions of an adjacent business (which is often responsible for upkeep, bringing chairs in at night, etc). If something is essentially designed to look like outdoor seating for a sidewalk cafe, it may not appear at all welcoming or accessible to everyone no matter how many signs define its public-ness. And then there's the question of whether such hip improvements can be viewed as indicators (or even catalysts) of gentrification... but that's an argument for another day. For now, L.A.'s effort does at least seem to indicate a broadly positive (and refreshing) step among city officials and planners there, one that does justice to what Mayor Garcetti calls the "fundamental shift in how we make our city streets safer and more enjoyable."

Can Graffiti be Good for Cities? Reflecting on the Loss of 5Pointz

I'm quoted in this great article in Fast Company Design, by Shaunacy Ferro. Inspired by the recent destruction of the world-famous graffiti mecca, 5Pointz, in Long Island City, Queens, the piece questions ponders why the place was not deemed culturally and economically valuable enough to preserve, considering that graffiti and street art are today as often signs of a neighborhood's hipness and trendy appeal as they are of disorder or neglect. I'm in great company, quoted alongside Greg Snyder (author of Graffiti Lives) and Elizabeth Currid-Halkett (The Warhol Economy). I'm grateful to Shaunacy for finding me and my work and including my thoughts so centrally in the piece! Check it out:

Can Graffiti be Good for Cities? by Shaunacy Ferro

"Do-it-Yourself Urban Design" in City & Community

My article, "Do-it-Yourself Urban Design: The Social Practice of Informal 'Improvement' Through Unauthorized Alteration," has been published in City & Community. It was published in early view in September 2013 actually, and will be in the next print issue (vol. 13, no. 1). 

The folks at the journal and the publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, have been super supportive and are making the article free (i.e. not behind the academic paywall) all year, so go download it here!: http://bit.ly/DIYurbandesign

Do-it-Yourself Urban Design
The Social Practice of Informal 'Improvement' Through Unauthorized Alteration

There are numerous ways in which people make illegal or unauthorized alterations to urban space. This study identifies and analyzes one that has been largely ignored in social science: explicitly functional and civic-minded informal contributions that I call “do-it-yourself urban design.” The research, which began as an investigation into more “traditional” nonpermissable alterations, uncovered these cases—from homemade bike lanes and street signs to guerrilla gardens and development proposals—that are gaining visibility in many cities, yet are poorly accounted for by existing perspectives in the literature. This article examines the existing theories and evidence from interviews and other fieldwork in 14 cities in order to develop the new analytical category of DIY urban design. I present findings on the creators of these interventions, on their motivations to “improve” the built environment where they perceive government and other development actors to be failing, and on the concentration of their efforts in gentrifying areas. This introduces the possibility of conflict and complicates their impact. I argue that DIY urban design has wide-ranging implications for both local communities and broader urban policy.

They also gave me the opportunity to create a 'video abstract' for the research, which you can see below. I'm a goober but it features some other friendly faces and familiar names behind the scenes. 

Do-It-Yourself Urban Design | City & Community Video Abstract 

from Sawyer-Lux | QUALITY CUTS on Vimeo.

Thanks to everyone who helped with both the article and the video!

No Posts in 2013!

It's true. It was a wild year. I completed remaining data collection and the bulk of the analysis for my dissertation and got a lot of writing done. I worked on two articles for publication (one of which has just come out) and presented a paper at ASA. I spent most of the first half of the year working on the "Spontaneous Interventions" exhibition, which we traveled to Chicago for an excellent and very well-received run from May to September at the Chicago Cultural Center. I hope to post some post-dated entries on some of these (great pictures from SI:Chicago!) back in 2013 when I get around to it.

Most importantly (and the best reason for not having spent any time blogging), my partner Emily and I welcomed our daughter into the world. Isla Peregrine Art Douglas was born on April 8th, 2013, in Brooklyn, New York, in a room overlooking the harbor. She's nine months now and continues to be the coolest thing ever in the world.

Starbucks Really Wants to Feel Local and Loved

In an article published earlier this year, I discussed the ways in which even large corporations with seemingly deeply codified "cultures of production" will adapt them in attempts to be sensitive to local character and cultural expectations. Inherent to this "cultural sensitivity" is the ability to act less like a big, generic, outside interloper and more like a distinct commodity aware of local sensibilities. My study was focused on efforts by Target Corp. to win support for a big box store in Davis, California (and another favorite example of mine is Duane Reade's addition of a craft beer bar and growler store to appease opponents of their Williamsburg store), but one of the other examples I listed was Starbucks.

In 2009, the company began rebranding and renaming certain coffee shops in an effort to appear more "local" and less like the gargantuan multinational chain that they are. Though they don't exactly hide that they are more or less just another Starbucks once you're inside, these "Street Level Coffee and Tea" locations have names like "15th Ave Coffee & Tea" or "Roy Street Coffee & Tea," feature unique and atmospheric interior design, and do neat stuff like host local events and offer some different food and drink items (including booze!). There's a great New York Times article about it here.

(image from AFP-Getty, via the New York Times)

Some might wonder why a giant, successful company like that would deliberately upend standard operating procedures, give their own brand identity a backseat, or generally do something that they don't really have to do.  The answer, of course, is that someone there thinks it will quiet a few anti-corporate opponents, win them a few brownie points, and, of course, make them more money (my study, and, for instance, the profit margins at Davis' first Target store, suggest that someone is right). Indeed, Starbucks makes no secret of it's "Street Level Coffee and Tea" innovation, proudly announcing it at the time and continuing to make the affiliation clear on the 'independent' shops website.

Well, today, Starbucks announced yet another interesting move that seems aimed quite simply at assuaging local concerns about the neighborliness of this anything-but-local corporation. But this time it's on a grand scale: the company has just offered to pay more taxes than they are required to in Britain. Apparently, "having listened to customers and the British public," (that's the Times again, quoting a Starbucks press release), they are going to "refrain from claiming certain tax deductions" and "pay taxes over the next two years even if it does not post a profit" (that's just the Times). Now to be fair, this comes after informal allegations of tax dodging in the country. But the point is that they are once again eagerly trumpeting their willingness to make unrequested, costly moves that seem to acknowledge remarkably transparently that they know they're a big multinational behemoth who people don't like, but really still want you to like them.

It's an interesting tactic. It doesn't make me any less wary of their predatory real-estate practices and other inevitable complaints (or any more likely to drink their coffee), but I suppose it's a good thing. It's also, more cynically, the face of a smiley and totally unshakeable capitalism, quietly adapting and easing tension as it keeps bringing in the bucks.

"The Edge of the Island: Cultural Ideology and Neighbourhood Identity at the Gentrification Frontier"

I'm happy to report that my article on the geography of "fringe" or "first-wave" gentrification has been published in Urban Studies. As I've noted before, the ethnographic study focuses on the attitudes of newcomers to a part of Chicago's West Town community area that has long lacked for clear identity. It discusses the motivations these individuals have for seeking out the "edge of the island," a romanticized cultural space that is just far enough from established trendy areas. The article is in the December issue, vol. 49, no. 16, and available online here. The abstract follows.


The Edge of the Island
Cultural Ideology and Neighborhood Identity at the Gentrification Frontier

Building on recent ethnographic accounts that have drawn attention to the nuanced ideologies of contemporary gentrifiers, this article brings cultural considerations to bear on the geography of gentrification's fringes. Through a case study of a neighborhood at the gentrification frontier in Chicago, it examines the factors driving first-wave 'pioneers' into an area with little prior popular identity or interest. Conscious of the wider gentrification process, these individuals are essentially seeking (and creating) a particular time and place within it - they idealize the 'edge' itself. Yet while they are actively fleeing advanced gentrification, their actions pave the way for its further expansion. The study finds that gentrification's borders are subjective and relative in the minds of newcomers themselves, who frame the process in terms of their own ideologies. These sub-cultural ideals are central to understanding the expansion of the gentrification frontier today. 

From the Streets to the Giardini: A Couple More Pieces About DIY Urban Design at the Venice Biennale

Just a note about two pieces I've published recently on some great blogs about the Spontaneous Interventions exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale and my participation in it. (See my previous post about the exhibition itself.)

First, several weeks ago, the good folks at GOOD were once again kind enough to run some words and pictures of mine, about the remarkable rise of this sort of 'spontaneous'/'tactical'/'diy' urbanism from the streets to the hallowed halls of the U.S. Pavilion at Venice. Here it is: Open-Source Urbanism: Venice Biennale Puts Spotlight on Renegade Designers. Got a nice short write-up by Dave Munson on his blog too.

Then, just the other day, I was honored to be asked to write a more L.A.-specific take on local involvement from the City of Angels in the Spontaneous Interventions show by Steetsblog Los Angeles. I love Streetsblog and have been a loyal reader for years, but this was my first opportunity to write a post for them. The article, L.A.'s Do-it-Yourself Urbanism Featured in International Architecture Exhibition, talks about work by James Rojas, Ken Mori and Jenny Lang, the L.A. Green Grounds project, and of course the city's amorphous "Department of DIY."

"Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good"

As I've noted before, it's been amazing to be a part of the project curatorial team for the US pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale this year. The exhibition, Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good, explores and showcases the movement toward innovative, ground-up, and often quite informal design contributions that people are making to their communities (overlapping in many ways with the phenomena I refer to in my research as DIY urban design). In addition to helping to find, review, select, and write up statements for the featured projects, I co-edited the exhibition catalog (a special issue of Architect magazine) with the pavilion commissioner and head curator, Cathy Lang Ho.

Well after 10 months of work, it was incredible to find myself in Venice's Giardini last week for the opening of the Biennale. Just seeing the installation itself in physical form was wonderful, truly exceeding my own high hopes for it - cheers to the team on the ground in Venice for the past month installing it all (as well as keeping the space running smoothly during the opening days).

The American pavilion is essentially four big galleries arranged in a horse-shoe around a front courtyard (above; a small central hall behind the columns pictured connects the second and third galleries, so there are two on each side). For our installation, the galleries are filled with 124 hanging banners, each one featuring one of the participating projects. (The exhibition website also features the content from each of the 124 banners.)

On entering, one actually sees the back of the banners (see photo at top), which have colorful 'bar codes' indicating the different thematic areas the intervention speaks to (community, information, environment, etc.). On the fronts of these are the descriptions of the projects. And, when a visitor pulls down on a banner, a pulley raises a block on the opposite wall showing the problem the project addresses:

On the floor is a winding timeline of urbanism, broken into four chunks by room, running from the "first city" (c. 7500 BC) through the rise of urban planning and design in the 19th century to recent things like Critical Mass and pop-up parklets.

In the central hall area, a video montage featuring interviews with a number of our participants plays on a large screen.

And finally, in the outdoor courtyard, a vibrant interactive public space was created by the New York design group Interboro. It features a raised platform for sitting, mingling and for presentations, and a sunken area for sitting, interacting, or participating in activities, all stocked with bright orange plush cubes - which can be used for sitting, or for playing. The space was programmed with panel discussions and workshops for much of the day, and was otherwise usually alive with children (and adults) interacting with the cubes and the space.

The exhibition, the installation, and the catalog are all very much what I hoped they would be, and a wonderful realization of the ideas that Cathy Ho and so many others had in doing this rather non-traditional exhibition. And don't just take my word for it - I'm proud to say that Spontaneous Interventions has already received many accolades, and on Wednesday we were awarded a relatively rare Special Mention by the Biennale judges (with the top Golden Lion award going to the excellent Japanese pavilion). "This interactive installation impressed the Jury with its celebration of the power of individuals to change society in small but effective ways," the judges wrote of the US pavilion, adding: "The unpretentiously simple presentation was a delight.”

The exhibition was realized by a talented team of hardworking individuals (many unpaid), every one of whom was excited and passionate about the project and its subject. I couldn't be more proud to have been a small part of this.