Being Tactical is Freaking Sweet

Over the course of our readings and discussions of strategic and tactical urbanism and what they are or how they are applied, I continue to think of my experiences in urban environments and the practices that I have noticed over time. A few different ones came to mind, one being my recent visit to Barcelona where I stayed at an Air Bnb between Parallel St. and the Gothic Quarters and me being an aimless wanderer (like Roberto Diaz) I spent much of my time walking around with no real intention of specific destination. During my wandering I came across a series of streets and intersections that had been re purposed into urban plazas. There was yellow painting on the roadways to delineate where cars should be and where people could be, along with different types of forms for seating or planting. I enjoyed it and it was clear that the locals would utilize it at all times of the day and night. It promoted eyes on the street and the "chaotic" change from colors to forms and speed bumps really slowed vehicular traffic down which in turn made it safer and more enjoyable than being along any of the busier streets.

A few other experiences were those I have had in Portland, where the food cart phenomenon is constantly addressing how we use the street in a public manner. There are a number of different ways that we can utilize space along the road and implement things like parklets (totally not legal, but its freaking sweet). I think these types of tactical urbanism are awesome and I love the creativity in different uses of public space. I also understand the different repercussions it might have, like what David talked about in class of how our exercises in these public spaces are tampering the actual implementation of real infrastructure that promotes this very type of public use and interaction.