On May 2-3, delegations of cross-sector leaders from 7 cities across the country convened in Indianapolis for a day and a half workshop focused on what civic leaders have done and are dreaming of doing to improve livability in their cities. Team Better Block Principal Andrew Howard added the Better Block approach to the already impressive programs from around the country that are advancing livability.

Cities are asked to perform projects “Better, Faster and Cheaper” all the time. Typically, urban planning projects are long and full of painful public meetings that pose naysayers against progressives. Even good intended projects often get watered down, because of worst case scenarios taking over ideas for complete streets, public space and redevelopment. Conversely, the better block approach of temporarily building the project over a weekend with community simultaneously strengthens community ownership and removes the fear of change, because hey its temporary!

The Better Block approach can be applied to any livability issue in any city:

•Go Directly To The Issue

•Assemble the Community

•Have an Intervention

•Document  and Publish the Action

•Move to Make Perm Change

 

All cities struggle with lack of resources and a large scale. The better block approach says, start by using existing resources and use the block as the scale for your project. In actuality, every city has all the resources and talent it needs to be livable, we just need to allocate and connect them, respectively. The better block approach to rapid revitalization is now being used in many of the CEO for Cities’, such as  Indianapolis, Cleveland, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Saint Paul.

On-going partnerships are sought for future better blocks from CEO for Cities members to track the progress of a block long after the temporary better block. If you have a better block in the making or want to test a block in your city please contact info@teambetterblock.com.

Indianapolis is taking on a Better Block and our team was able to meet with local sponsors and supporters for a workshop and community walk of the proposed area. Check out what they had to say about the project and the word cloud is “feelings” created by participants at the close of the workshop. My favorite was DEPUTIZED. I think everyone that hears the better block message is deputized and has a duty to better their city in days, not years!

“The hope for all these projects is that eventually it will become permanent, but instead of sinking all this investment into it and all this money and dollars into it, you can temporarily envision what it will look like and you can see the downsides to things and you can actually change things,” said Tom Streit, Big Car Director of Neighborhood Happiness.

Coverage of the Englewood Better Block workshop can be found here.

 

Come on weather, hold out for some amazing Better Blocks this summer.

May 4th

Oklahoma City

May11th

St Joseph MO

Denver CO

Tulsa Ok

 

May 18th

Grand Rapids MI

  Dallas, TX

June 8th

Saint Paul, MN

Indianapolis

June 13th

  Multiple Across Australia

Late Summer

Toronto, Boston

Just as the landscape for development is changing, see a recent article by sustainable cities collective that outlines a future that is much more reliant on incremental change and temporary improvements to the existing urban fabric, Americas’ learning institutions are adapting. They are taking students out of the classroom. If play is the ultimate research, then the better block is the new laboratory for Universities that want to maintain a creative edge. Check out these recent projects:

North Adams A project by 16 Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts students showed North Adams residents how Eagle Street could be revitalized into a “better block.”

 

 

 

 

Fort Lauderdale Better Block FTL was organized by Cadence, the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University and FAT Village Arts District.

Is your block being held back by outdated land development codes? Check for these signs of overly restrictive zoning in your city with examples from Dallas and then organize a group of your friends to break them over a weekend at your own better block.

AWNINGS & ARCADES

Arcades – covered walkways at the edge of buildings, which are partly inside, partly outside – play a vital role in the way that people interact with buildings.

 

Dallas Development Code.  SEC. 43-115.  ANNUAL FEE FOR USE OF PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY.

(a)     Except as provided in Section 43-115.1, the annual fee for a license to use a public right-of-way for the following uses is:

(4)     Fee for awnings and canopies:  $1,000 per awning or canopy.

 

CROWDS

The simple social intercourse created when people rub shoulders in public is one of the most essential kinds of social “glue” in society.

Dallas Development Code.  SEC. 43-129.  CAUSING CROWD TO CONGREGATE ON SIDEWALK.

     No person shall occupy any space on the sidewalk or any space near the sidewalk where the same attracts any crowd or causes any crowd to congregate on the sidewalk or where the patrons or customers must remain on the sidewalk, for the purpose of carrying on any kind of business whether for amusement or profit.  (Code 1941, Art. 143-8)

FOOD STANDS

Many of our habits and institutions are bolstered by the fact that we can get simple, inexpensive food on the street, on the way to shopping, work, and friends.

 Dallas Development Code.  SEC. 43-4.  FRUIT STANDS, STALLS, ETC., ON SIDEWALKS.

     No person shall have or maintain any fruit stand, huckster’s stand or other stall on any sidewalk in the city.  (Code 1941, Art. 139-4)

 

MERCHANDISE

A building is most often thought of as something which turns inward – toward its rooms.  People do not often think of a building as something which must also be oriented toward the outside.

Dallas Development Code.  SEC. 43-133.  USE OF SIDEWALK FOR DISPLAY OF MERCHANDISE.

 

     No merchant or owner of a building, fronting on any street, shall be allowed the use of any portion of any sidewalk for the display of goods, wares or merchandise.  (Code 1941, Art. 143-12; Ord. 3707)

 

SIDEWALK FLOWERS

Soften the edges of buildings, paths, and outdoor areas with flowers.  Raise the flower beds so that people can touch the flowers, bend to smell, and sit by them.  And build the flower beds with solid edges, so that people can sit on them, among the flowers too.

 

Dallas Development Code.  SEC. 43-115.  ANNUAL FEE FOR USE OF PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY.

     (a)     Except as provided in Section 43-115.1, the annual fee for a license to use a public right-of-way for the following uses is:

          (3)     Fee for landscaping and appurtenant irrigation systems:  $1,000.

STREET CAFÉS

The street café provides a unique setting, special to cities:  a place where people can sit lazily, legitimately, be on view, and watch the world go by.

 Dallas Development Code.  SEC. 43-115.  ANNUAL FEE FOR USE OF PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY.

     (b)     Except as provided in Section 43-115.1, the annual fee for a license to use a public right-of-way for uses other than those listed in Subsection (a) is $1,000 or is calculated in accordance with one of the following formulas, whichever is greater:

(1)     Fee for use of public right-of-way, including but not limited to sidewalk cafes:  area X market value X 85% X 12%.

What we need is bureaucracy free zones to try out a new form of land development and public safety.  What city is ready to try out the Better Block Approach to zoning?

 

Team Better Block is now offering on-site workshops for your city!

 

INTRODUCTION/OVERVIEW

What does Team Better Block do?

Team Better Block temporarily re-engineers and re-programs auto dominated, blighted, and underused urban areas into complete ones by working with cities, developers, and stakeholders to create quick, inexpensive, high-impact changes. Team Better Block uses pop-up shops to test the local economic development potential of streets re-engineered for walkability. Additionally, Team Better Block bolsters civic pride by enlisting the community in the build-out of the temporary installation.

Why are Team Better Block’s Temporary Rapid Revitalization Projects Important?

Although comprehensive planning projects are necessary for most property developments, the cost, scale and long-range timelines associated with these initiatives can often lead to a loss in project momentum and frustration or lack of confidence among area stakeholders and residents. In our projects we have seen improved acceptance by city engineers, planners, designers, and public safety officials of some of the most progressive measures in the urban street design toolbox. The Better Block approach has been used in over thirty cities from California to New York to illustrate rapid street changes and community revitalization. These cities have reported greater understanding and urgency by elected officials, leaders, and citizens for permanent change.

What will you learn in the Better Block workshop?

Introduction to Team Better Block approach
How to re-engineer and re-program streets, sidewalks, properties, and spaces for safety, shared amenities, and
Staying power
How to rally stakeholders, community, and civic participation
How to promote the demonstration through marketing, “shared” events, and social media
How to file for proper permitting for the demonstration
How to create teams and designate tasks efficiently and effectively
How to survey public and private spaces of blighted or auto-centric blocks through “on site” visits
How to design, build, and install temporary re-engineering and re-programming elements safely, economically, and efficiently through “hands on” demonstrations
How to measure through a set of metrics and reports the successes and failures of the demonstration
How to continue future efforts and take next steps for permanent change

 

Value

Keynote Speaker $3000, plus travel expenses.  One hour speaking on the history and future of the better block.

Half-day Workshop $6,500, plus travel expenses. Program includes one hour introduction, one hour of improve building, one hour of how to build a better block, one hour of resource and talent identification. Attendees leave with one small action to make a better city and a database of people and resources to build their own better block.

Full-day Workshop $9,000, plus travel expenses Program includes all elements from half-day, a  walk about of a potential area and identification of better block elements. Three one hour of interactive design sessions for placemaking, programming and street design. Attendees leave with all the half-day items and a design document for their own better block.

Three-day Workshop $25,000, plus travel expenses Program includes all elements of half-day plus two days of building a better block. Attendees leave with the experience of building their own better block. measures of effectiveness and a guidebook to making the better block permanent.

 

For questions regarding the workshop email Andrew@teambetterblock.com

 

BIOS OF INSTRUCTORS

 

Jason Roberts is the founder of the Oak Cliff Transit Authority, originator of the Better Block Project, co-founder of the Art Conspiracy and Bike Friendly Oak Cliff, and recent candidate for US Congress. In 2006, Jason formed the non-profit organization, Oak Cliff Transit Authority, to revive the Dallas streetcar system, and later spearheaded the city’s effort in garnering a $23 Million dollar TIGER stimulus grant from the FTA to help reintroduce a modern streetcar system to Dallas. In 2010, Jason organized a series of “Better Block” projects, taking blighted blocks with vacant properties in Southern Dallas and converting them into temporary walkable districts with pop-up businesses, bike lanes, cafe seating, and landscaping. The project has now become an international movement and has been featured in theNew York Times, Dwell magazine, TED Talks and on NPR. Team Better Block was showcased in the US Pavillion at the 2012 Venice Biennale.

 

Andrew Howard, AICP worked for 12 years in traditional urban and transportation planning at regional government offices and a top national engineering firm before leaving to help pioneer a new approach to public outreach. Realizing that over the past several decades, designers and city officials have struggled to create and maintain interest from local communities for long-term urban revitalization, Andrew and Co-founder Jason Roberts created The Better Blocks Project.Now being used in over forty cities and three nations, the better block illustrates how simple modifications can powerfully alter the economic, social, and ecological value of a city by gathering designers and community volunteers together to create a one-day urban intervention to spark the imagination and interest of citizens and leaders alike. The American Society of Landscape Architects called it, “a 21st-century version of what the Chicago World’s Fair did in 1893.” The project has now become a staple for communities seeking rapid urban revitalization and has been featured in the New York Times, Dwell magazine, NPR’s Marketplace and showcased in the US Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennale and highlighted at the National Association for City Transportation Officials.

 

Wanda Dye is an assistant professor in architecture at UT Arlington and founder and director of RE gallery + studio soon to open in the Cedars, Dallas, Texas. Set to open early fall 2012 – RE – a new collaborative community – will exhibit, consult, create, and disseminate RE practices in art and design – practices such as retrofitting, repurposing, reclamation, and reuse. Professor Dye received her Bachelors of Architecture from Auburn University and her Masters of Architecture from Columbia University. While in New York she worked in award winning design offices of Skidmore Owings and Merrill and Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects. For the past twelve years she has taught at several institutions and served as a consultant and/or collaborator on many design proposals and projects. Her most recent service learning teaching, consulting, and creative practice include collaborations with the Arlington Urban Design Center, AURORA, Carl Small Town Center, Cedars Open Studios, Change Chamber Development, Design Build Adventure [Jack Sanders], Ecological Community Builders, Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, National Housing Partnership, PARK[ing] Day Dallas, Alison Starr, SMU Meadows School of the Arts, Team Better Block [Jason Roberts and Andrew Howard], and The Galleries on Hickory. These collaborations have been covered in Art + Seek, A+C [Arts+ Culture] of North Texas, Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, Green Magazine, Pegasus News, The Dallas Observer, and Texas Architect.

Every community has all the talent and resources it needs to be successful, they just need to be connected and activated.

A Great diversity of people from all age groups and ethnic backgrounds mingled together in a revisioned section of Downtown Norfolk VA this past weekend.

The project was built, programmed and managed by one of the most dedicated group of volunteers Team Better Block has ever come across. On all projects, Team Better Block seeks to bring new participants into the fold of planning and designing our cities. Think of the Better Block as the new public meeting for the nimble city.

The typical public meeting process associated with redevelopment projects attracts a narrow sector of the population. Only those comfortable with the technical jargon of architecture, zoning and traffic engineering survive the powerpoint onslaught of a standard public meeting.   For about the same cost as a public meeting, set of design renderings and master plan book (shelf-fodder) we build a better block.

Melding together artist, architects, bicycle advocates, DIYers, moms, bicyclist, nerds and just about anyone with a passion we build a network of people that are the better block. A better block is not the bike lanes, cafe seating, pop-up shops, 30 foot bamboo pagodas (see below), but is the people. The relationships forged at a better block, which starts three months prior to the event date with a community walk, are the lasting social capital that allow our projects to accelerate city development and transportation policy and invigorate private investment.

The crowds at better blocks represent a consensus for changing the way we govern our cities and fund improvements. We need to think small, move fast and invest wisely.

Many say community is a thing of the past in America. That we are turning against ourselves with lawsuits, rampant gun ownership and isolation. I say we are transitioning into an even stronger union that is begun on the street during a better block. We are retraining ourselves to work together to build the city, neighborhood and block we always wanted. We are not waiting on government, the banks or some superman to come fix our place.

The better block communities built from the over forty projects around the US, Canada and Australia are developing a model for our society. One that says we are accountable for the place we live and together we can make it better. Our current condition of reduced community involvement evolved over the last 100 years, so it will take some time to rebuild. Social media and other improvements to communication will make it easier, but nothing beats personal engagement.

Better block is a training session for how to reconnect your community. Take the lessons from it and apply it to issues you are passionate about. Have an old theater in your town that is boarded up? Host an art auction in it. Have a vacant lot in your neighborhood that continually gets dumped on? Build a dog park on it. Need a hundred sandwiches for the the school band trip? Host a sandwich making party.

What you will find is that no issue is to hard if you:

#1 manage the equation of co-responsibility, divide issue and share tasks with others

#2 go directly to location of the issue, don’t meet in a library and talk about it

#3 set a date to do something, you are not going to make the situation worse and your project, no matter how simple or scaled down will make it better simply by you and others being there.

Each city needs a better block and then hundreds of smaller interventions happening to realize their true potential. Tell us about your projects at info@teambetterblock.com

 

Team Better Block is working with the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne Australia over the coming week to explore how better block can advance sustainable living and putting to work many of the wonderful innovations in green technology emerging from Australia. Kicking-off in Melbourne, Jason and I spoke to a packed crowd of enthusiastic doers and thinkers.

 

Melbourne is proving that every community has all the resources and talent to make change, they just need to be activated and provided  a platform to work together. The better block has been well received by the science community in Australia because it uses scientific methods in testing new ways of using the built environment. I am learning that better block is a pathway not only for community collaboration, but individual life changes that lead to sustainability. My own story of leaving corporate america, ditching the auto commute for walking commute, replacing many business trips with video conferences and social media and simply living local in Oak Cliff has made my life more sustainable and greatly reduced my carbon footprint.

I see now that the better block facilitates this type of lifestyle change. Many of the volunteers and leaders we have worked with have made these lifestyle changes on their own following the better block experience. They have started their own business, reduced auto use, built a cooperative housing project, started a co-working office or simply started living more locally. I am encouraged by this Festival and increasingly seeing how better block is meshing with the greater environmental movement to advance change.

In Australia they don’t have years to involve people in creating a shared vision of a sustainable future. They literally have six months.  That is the next election cycle is coming around and climate change is at the center of the debate. Too many people see climate change as a daunting task and are more focused on immediate human needs. The better block could be a powerful key for Australians to collectively step up and demonstrate what a low carbon world means to them.

I recommend that projects highlight how green technology can be retrofitted into streets to reduce the need for fossil fuels by, for example, installing  solar lighting and wind capture. I see using the better block as a temporary testing ground for integrating new ideas into the streetscape and urban fabric. We created testing zones for nuclear weapons and subverted laws for years to advance military technology. Why not create sustainability testing zones in cities that advance green technology, incubate new businesses and foster housing improvements?

Six months is plenty of time for Australia to accomplish 4 better block projects and give a snap shot of what a ‘sustainability testing zone’ would look like! I can only imagine what will come from the creative folks I have met here. For tour details see below:

 

THE BETTER BLOCK TOUR WITH ANDREW HOWARD

 

• GEELONG, Activating Community Lecture Better Block Lecture

Tues, 19 Feb, 6 – 7pm, Percy Baxter Theatre, Deakin University (Waterfront), 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, VIC 3220. Gold coin donation.

 

• GEELONG, Activating Community Lecture Better Block Workshop

Weds 20 Feb, 9am – 12pm, Courthouse Arts, Gheringhap St

Geelong, VIC 322, Geelong, free.

 

• TRARALGON, Better Block Presentation and Workshop
  Thurs, 21 Feb, 6 -9pm, free.

 

• BALLARAT, Better Block Presentation and Workshop
  Sat, 23 Feb, 10am – 1pm, free.

 

• HEIDELBERG HEIGHTS, Making A Better Block – Murundaka

*Inspired by Better Block

Sat 23 Feb 10am – 4pm, Murundaka Co-Housing, Heidelberg Heights, $50 Full, $40 Conc, info@murundakacohousing.org.au

 

• SYDNEY, Better Block Presentation and Networking event Tues, 26 Feb, 6-9pm, Riderfood Warehouse, 303 Cleveland Street, Redfern, Sydney, free

 

I’ve been to a fair number of conferences, but few I have really enjoyed and left feeling like I learned something that I can take back home and apply. I have on occasion, like the man pictured above, lost interest and snoozed. More and more attendees are seeking new means of learning and sharing knowledge through active conferences that rapidly introduce new techniques and then apply them in real-world scenarios. Team Better Block recently partnered with the Oklahoma Main Street Program to host such a conference with over 50 Main Street Program Directors from around the State of Oklahoma.

The conference included a half-day of classroom training on the basics of How to Build a Better Block with examples from past projects in Wichita, Kansas, Dallas, Texas and San Antonio Texas. An hour was spent on the theory behind Better Block that stems from books such as City Comforts and practices like New York City’s Pavement to Plazas program.

 

 

Overall the workshop sought to provide:

• Introduction to Team Better Block approach
• How to re-engineer and re-program streets, sidewalks, properties, and spaces for safety, shared amenities, and staying power
• How to rally stakeholders, community, and civic participation
• How to promote the demonstration through marketing, “shared” events, and social media
• How to file for proper permitting for the demonstration
• How to create teams and designate tasks efficiently and effectively
• How to survey public and private spaces of blighted or auto-centric blocks through “on site” visits
• How to design, build, and install temporary re-engineering and re-programming elements safely, economically, and efficiently  through “hands on” demonstrations
• How to measure through a set of metrics and reports the successes and failures of the demonstration
• How to continue future efforts and take next steps for permanent change

 

Moving from the classroom to the street, Better Block co-founders Andrew Howard and Jason Roberts and long-time Better Block Champ Wanda Dye lead the group on process of building a better block:

Community Walk with Private and Public Space Survey

Property owner meeting with Pop-up Shop ideas

City Traffic Engineer discussion with Street Plan

 

The Main Street Directors had less than six hours to transform a four lane auto-dominated street into a complete street and activate five vacant shop-fronts into destinations. Using the better block principles of BORROW, BUILD and only then BUY the teams set off to make the Kendall Whittier District of Tulsa Oklahoma into an even more attractive destination!

Great places deserve great streets. The project worked with the City of Tulsa Traffic Engineering Department to test a complete street for a one block stretch of Lewis Street. Lewis is currently a four lane arterial with around 10,000 vehicles per day and speeds above 35MPH. However, it is designate in the City of Tulsa Thoroughfare plan to be a two lane main street in the future. So, the Street Team re-oriented the current on-street parallel parking to be back-in angle parking. This treatment sought to reduce vehicle speeds and increase the amount of parking for retail uses. On the opposite side of the street, planters where used to create a European style cycle track that functioned as a bicycle trail in the street.

Concurrently, the Pop-up Team went to work on five vacant storefronts with the idea of creating a coffee shop, art gallery, vintage record shop, vintage clothing store and a hardware store. They focused on the front of the store. Cleaning windows, positioning displays and setting areas close to the windows and dividing the large spaces using horizontal elements. Art was borrowed, friends were called to participate and new relationships with neighboring retailers was formed. In a matter of hours the Pop-up team had created and active and vibrant destination!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Marketing and Graphics Team meanwhile were documenting the effort, creating wayfinding, signage, uploading pictures to Facebook and creating a video. The result was a block that performed better for the visitor, property owner and retailer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The experience reminded Jason and I of the first Better Block! The positive energy of the day was apparent. Gone was the powerpoint slides, rubber chicken lunch and boring training manuals often found at conferences. Instead the day was filled with team building, active participation, rapid problem solving and measurable outcomes. The true test of the workshop will come in the application of learned techniques by the participants when they return home.

In our closing session, Jason asked how will you use what you have learned? In Ardmore a vacant storfront is going to become a restaurant incubator with an active cafe area, Altus is looking to restore the “bad” part of Main Street that is South of the tracks with a Better Block, McAlester  is going to use the street exercise to illustrate the need for a calmed state highway that is their main street and many others found immediate applications of the lessons learned.

Congratulations to the first Better Block Certification Class! Our next Class is in March, sign up now!

Think of the Biennale as Olympics for Architecture and our participation in it the equivalent of storming the Bastille or in this case the Arsenale. The gathering of 55 nations to display and compete for the coveted Golden Lion awards for architecture occurs every two years and is typically focused on trends in modern design. One architect is chosen to select a theme and curate the main pavilion, Arsenale. British Architect, David Chipperfield directed this, the 13th annual Biennale under the theme of “Common Ground.”   He chose this theme in order “to encourage my colleagues to react against the prevalent professional and cultural tendencies of our time that place such emphasis on individual and isolated actions. I encouraged them instead to demonstrate the importance of influence and of the continuity of cultural endeavour, to illustrate common and shared ideas that form the basis of an architectural culture“. Let me translate that from Old English to Americano: Hey big headed architect, if you want to stay relevant stop just thinking about your monolithic building project and consider the space around it and the community in which you are building in.

So in reaction to this charge, the 55 participant countries gathered the best of the best. The US Pavilion, curated by Cathy Lang Ho, David van der Leer and Ned Cramer chose the theme of Spontaneous Interventions which seeks to celebrates a movement for democratic change in cities in the United States, inspired by a kindred activism around the world. That meant instead of having renderings, plans and pictures of modern buildings, the US  focused on actions—planting abandoned lots, occupying and reprogramming public spaces, and generally making cities more beautiful, inclusive, productive, and healthy, says curator Cathy Lang Ho, who further states that these actions “are planning at its most direct, expressions of a desire for good places that cannot simply await the sanction of the “authorities” to find their form.” Ahh I think we found our people! Better block was contacted early in the formation of the exhibition and co-founder Jason Roberts provides the following introduction to the installation which can be found in this month’s Architect Magazine:

 The hands-on movement seen unfolding around the world is a response to the pent-up demand of those who are tired of waiting for governments, consultants, or other so-called experts to create the kind of communities we crave. Better Blocks, PARK(ing) Days, yarnbombings, guerrilla gardening, pop-up businesses, and depaving efforts are byproducts of a more social and connected community that refuses to accept the idea that “We can’t be like Paris.”

The pavilion was adorned with 124 spontaneous interventions from around the US see this video to get a first hand feeling for the installation Video of Biennale.

 

Team Better Block Co-Founder Andrew Howard and intern Ashley Shook participated in the US Pavilion opening ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason was there is spirit and virtually. This video echoed through the hall every few minutes reminding people that this was a revolution. And that is what it felt like, as we toured the other pavilions I got a sense that there is a major divide in the architectural world. On one side the old guard is hanging on to Le Corbusier visions of the city as canvas for isolated monolithic high rises connected to sterile public housing projects with highways. Amazingly it is some of the old world countries like Russia, Denmark and Germany that are still lost in modernism.

On the other side is a growing understanding that Architecture is not the savior of the city, that communication technology matched with community action is shaping public space and Architects to stay relevant must embrace new ways of approaching design through the lens of the local community. This was illustrated in the UK, Japan, Urban Think Tank demonstration and the US pavilion was the center of the upsurge in a new way of thinking about the city. A thinking that says we don’t know everything, it would be arrogant to think so, but we know if we get started with the community in mind that together we can solve our urban issues.

The Jury of the Biennale recognized the progress of the guerilla urbanism movement by awarding a  Special mention to the United States of America for ‘Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good’. This interactive installation impressed the Jury with its celebration of the power of individuals to change society in small but effective ways. The unpretentiously simple presentation was a delight said jurors. This is the first time the US has been mentioned at the Biennale.

For everyone that has lead a better block, picked up a hammer to build a chair, experienced a better block this is a giant international bow to you! You are on the leading edge of a movement that is transforming this country and now other parts of the world into a place that is more livable, easier to start a small business in and more sustainable. Keep agitating for these changes. Have your own spontaneous intervention in your neighborhood no matter how small it is (here are 124 to choose from). These little victories add up and create permanent change faster than any public meeting, planning charrette or multi-year study can do. Cheers to all the participants in the Biennale and look for new partnerships between the Better Block and the other 123 spontaneous interventions that are bucking the system and making progress a reality in our lifetime.

The Alamo Plaza Better Block project is beginning to take shape with many local organizations and individuals taking part to help transform the area into a more inviting, historically appropriate and active public space.

In our last Better Block project, TBG Partners brought out a team to help build a series of outdoor seating combined with drum-barrel planters. This time around, they’re going to recreate some of the historic tables and chairs used by the historic Chili Queens who used to set out furniture for people travelling through the missions and plazas and provide food. Also, Preferred Landscape and Lighting will provide plants and foliage to the area.

 

Renowned local chef, Andrew Weissman, will be pulling out the stop to help create a romantic dinner and wine experience on Alamo Plaza. Andrew is teaming up with the Chef’s Coalition to provide an exciting menu for the evening of August 17th from 9pm to 11pm.

Alamo Beer Company will also be on hand to help celebrate Davy Crockett’s 226th Birthday. The legendary soldier and politician lost his life at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Famously before leaving Tennessee, Crockett was quoted as saying, “You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas!”

The ultimate goal is to create an inviting, romantic outdoor cafe experience so that residents and visitors feel welcome to sit and enjoy the area for longer periods of time.One of the major findings of the Project for Public Space’s research about the plaza is that people come, see the mission and leave because there are not enough gathering places and activities. The cafe will keep people there so we can tell the amazing story of the Alamo.

To tell the story we will have a lantern tour on Friday night lead by Bob Benavides of the San Antonio Living History Association, kiosks developed by Overland Partners and Lake Flato will be staffed by the Sons of the Republic of Texas on both Friday and Saturday and Native American story teller Isaac Cardenas will share Coahuiltecan/Apache history.

The technology firm Bibisi will be launching an interpretive QR code tour of the Alamo Plaza grounds. The idea is to get more people to understand the scale of the Alamo and the importance of its history.

 

 

Stephen Dyer of Garrison General Contractors will be leading a partial rebuild of the Alamo’s 1836 front gates using a ghost structure that will outline the original footprint of the mission’s entry point.

 

On Saturday, August 18th, between 9AM and 1PM, Casa Navarro will lead an adobe wall building workshop spotlighting the materials and methods that would have been used to build many of the state’s historic mission walls.

To help with the pre-build of the project, join us on August 10th from 5PM to 10PM, and August 11th from 9AM to 1PM at the former Express department store,  at the corner of Alamo Plaza and Commerce Street. The facility has air conditioning, and truck access to make it easy for volunteers to participate. Teams will be constructing street furniture, planters, and more. Sign up here to volunteer.