DIY Urban Design at ASA - Las Vegas

I'll be presenting my research on do-it-yourself urban design tomorrow morning at the American Sociological Association's annual conference here in Las Vegas. I'll be joining a panel of fascinating-sounding papers in the regular session on Popular Culture, organized by Dr. Terry McDonnell with Dr. Dustin Kidd presiding. Below is a revised abstract for the paper , the circulation version of which can be found here (pdf).


Do-It-Yourself Urban Design
Making Local Improvements Through Unauthorized Alterations of Urban Space
There are numerous ways in which people make illegal or unauthorized alterations to urban space, its uses, or meanings. This paper presents a particular type of unauthorized intervention, which I distinguish from other “traditional” forms of illegal spatial intervention (graffiti, political occupation, etc.), and which has not been described in previous research: creative, highly localized, and largely anonymous practices that are aimed explicitly at “improving” the built environment of local communities – in other words, “do-it-yourself” urban design. In painting their own crosswalks and bicycle lanes, building and installing benches and other street furniture, or creating faux-official signage to promote desired civic improvements or commemorate unheralded events, people are responding to perceived inadequacies in their communities and taking design responsibilities into their own hands; even small-scale acts of aesthetic alteration assert a vision of the city as open to individual “beautification.” Building from qualitative fieldwork and interviews with individuals in London, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Vancouver, I discuss the implications of these practices for understanding the contemporary city and contentious politics and raise questions of rights, responsibilities and perhaps unintended consequences.