Speakers
Description
Several cities worldwide have adopted planning policies aimed at rethinking the role of public spaces to foster active mobility and social interaction. This trend, strengthened by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, reflects growing awareness of the negative externalities associated with the dominance of cars in urban environments. Through interventions that reorganize the form and use of public spaces, shifting away from configurations that solely prioritize vehicle circulation and parking to those that support a plurality of social practices and sustainable mobility modes, the groundwork is laid for a broader paradigm shift: from car-centered models of public space to people-oriented designs.
The benefits of enhancing urban spaces and mobility systems to be more accessible and inclusive for all, especially for vulnerable populations, are manifold. These include fostering social interaction to prevent isolation, encouraging active mobility behaviors, and addressing the climate crisis by reducing CO2 emissions and enhancing urban ecosystems. Thus, transforming car-oriented public spaces is essential to achieving more sustainable, equitable, and active mobility-oriented urban environments.
Nevertheless, implementing these transformative processes presents significant challenges for both cities already undertaking these initiatives and those seeking to initiate them. First, such efforts challenge deeply rooted car-oriented cultures. Second, public space transformations operate on a highly contested resource, where conflicts often emerge regarding the uses, perceptions, and desires of different actors. As a result, interventions undertaken without a deep contextual understanding of local users’ needs and preferences, or without anticipating potential conflicts arising from the transformation, risk being ineffective and jeopardizing the transition toward more sustainable and inclusive cities.
These challenges underline the importance of tactical urbanism, an approach to urban transformation characterized by its incremental, temporary, and experimental nature. This approach enables cities to overcome resource limitations and project uncertainties, while its participatory methodology helps mitigate divergences and potential conflicts. Public participation, central to the process of tactical urbanism, promotes citizen engagement and co-production of design solutions, fostering consensus and avoiding the negative outcomes associated with top-down imposed changes. However, the need for public engagement introduces additional challenges for public actors advocating tactical urbanism which need to i) prioritize intervention areas based on specific selection criteria; ii) effectively engage citizens; and iii) mediate between the - often divergent - preferences of citizens and the technical, legal, and financial feasibility of the proposed interventions.
While many cities worldwide have successfully addressed these challenges, others continue to struggle with developing effective strategies for change.
Building on these considerations, this paper examines a research project in Genoa, Italy, undertaken in collaboration with the Municipality to implement the city’s first tactical urbanism pilot interventions. Currently being developed as part of the Genova Street Lab living lab initiative, these interventions focus on creating and enhancing public spaces through pedestrianization, installing urban furniture to promote conviviality, and supporting community-driven active mobility practices. A cornerstone of the initiative was the development of an innovative and scalable mixed-method approach to identify suitable intervention areas and involve the local population in co-designing public space solutions. This methodology combined quantitative GIS-based analysis, surveys, interviews, on-site inspections, and co-design sessions to achieve a comprehensive understanding of local challenges. It enabled the identification of priority areas for intervention and supported a shared process of envisioning and co-producing people-centered spaces.
The mix-method participatory approach, tested within the concrete policy decision-making process experimented in Genoa, is detailed in this paper. It addresses the challenges encountered and discusses the potential of integrating the tactical urbanism approach into institutionalized planning processes, thereby fostering a transition toward more inclusive, sustainable, and people-centered mobilities and urban environments.
| Keywords | tactical urbanism; accessibility; sustainable mobility; public participation; public space |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
