Speaker
Description
The Reclaiming Streets Program, led by the Marmara Municipalities Union (MMU)—a regional association representing over 190 municipalities across the Marmara region—through its Local Government Academy, is a hands-on learning initiative launched in 2022. Developed in collaboration with Superpool and the Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), the program aims to transform urban streets into vibrant, pedestrian-friendly spaces. By prioritizing people over vehicles, it places special emphasis on creating safer, more inclusive environments for children and caregivers.
Through a combination of training sessions, data collection, hands-on workshops, and real-world interventions, the program fosters collaboration among municipalities and municipal departments, equipping them to navigate the complexities of street design, public engagement, and financial planning. By leveraging tactical urbanism and a phased design approach, the program enhances participation, budgeting, and implementation processes, providing municipalities with practical strategies for interim and final street transformations.
A crucial step in street transformation, interim implementations use easily obtainable, flexible materials provided by municipalities to create temporary interventions. These projects utilize tactical urbanism tools and actively engage communities in the design process. Interim implementations allow municipalities to test project effectiveness before moving to final, permanent transformations by collecting pre- and post-implementation data. Final interventions, in contrast, often involve removing hard surfaces, incorporating sustainable, permeable materials, and introducing greenery to create resilient, climate-friendly public spaces.
Each year, the program opens a call for applications, selecting municipal teams that bring together multiple departments—including strategic development, planning and projects, transportation, and parks and recreation. These interdisciplinary teams participate in a six-month learning program, where they gain expertise in street design fundamentals and tactical urbanism, collect data, and develop plans for interim interventions based on their findings. After implementing these interim interventions, they reassess data, refine designs, and proceed with final transformations backed by greater financial resources.
By bringing together municipalities of different sizes and from various cities, each program cohort fosters collaborative learning, similar to urban planning education. This peer-to-peer exchange strengthens problem-solving skills and knowledge-sharing among teams. Additionally, MMU’s Mentor Program enhances this process by connecting different cohorts, allowing experienced municipalities to share their insights and lessons (un)learned with newcomers.
To date, the Reclaiming Streets Program has engaged 16 municipalities across the Marmara region, successfully transforming 15 streets in five cities through tactical urbanism-based interim interventions—one of which has evolved into a permanent transformation. These interventions have significantly improved urban environments by enhancing safety, accessibility, and inclusivity for residents.
Beyond equipping cities with essential skills and knowledge, the program plays a pivotal role in strengthening urban resilience and fostering a people-centered approach to street design. This paper will examine the tangible outcomes of these efforts, highlighting both successes and setbacks. It will explore the effectiveness of tactical urbanism as a complementary strategy to long-term city planning and assess how local, small-scale interventions can serve as catalysts for broader regional transformation.
Additionally, the paper will investigate whether short-term tactical interventions can evolve into sustainable, long-term urban solutions. Another key question it will address is: Can urban planning education extend beyond academia and seamlessly integrate into professional practice through hands-on learning programs that culminate in real-world transformations?
| Keywords | Child-friendly cities; street transformation; tactical urbanism; local action |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
