Tactical Urbanism

It seems that the new world might benefit from tactical urbanism.

Don't you love that term?  So active and edgy.  Although I'm not sure it's a very enlightening descriptor.  But you decide - here are a couple of definitions:

...an approach to city building that uses temporary, affordable, and easily-implemented solutions, often starting small and piloting more permanent change.
Pedestrian Plazas. Parklets. Pop-up Bike Lanes... flexible and short-term projects to advance long-term goals related to street safety, public space, and more.

No doubt we all noticed that there were lots fewer cars on the road when we were shut down.  That allowed people who lived in neighborhoods to make adjustments to the roads and spaces in those neighborhoods, using, among other things, traffic cones, sidewalk chalk and homemade signs.  There are more people - especially children - at home, and we all need more space in order to maintain our distance.  So people in many cities are taking matters into their own hands, and changing traffic flows, adjusting lanes, and often closing off streets to vehicle traffic entirely, with our without their municipality's blessing.

At this point, there's no evidence to suggest that these changes will become permanent. "These guerrilla tactics are not meant to be long-term, but can help disbelievers imagine other possibilities and raise awareness of the debate. "  This is kind of important, because streets, highways, neighborhoods - cities in general - have not been built to serve the best interests of the majority of residents.  Or, to put it more accurately:  Cities are designed for cars, not people (Robert Moses, anyone?).

Many cities are doing their best to redesign their transportation systems - a difficult job, considering the solid, interconnected infrastructure that already exists.  Turns out that where essential workers tend to live is not well-served by efficient public transport, and the workers that the highways were built for are all working from home.  

So we can file this one in the "Will we forget all about this pressing need once things return to normal?" folder.  Of course, that will depend on the normal we return to.  But urban (and, to some extent, suburban) transport has been outmoded and unfair for a while, and if we ever get around to infrastructure week, this would be a great place to start.