What makes a block better? For each location we here at Team Better Block find it means something different to the community and progress of active transportation and urban quality. Every project brings innovation and new understanding of how to transform the built environment to be more human. It is great to see communities taking the [...]

On Saturday, May 19th, Market Square in downtown Brownsville, Texas will be converted into a livable, and exciting destination as the city undergoes its first Better Block project. The project will take place between 10AM and 6PM and two of the downtown streets will be converted to pedestrian plazas with outdoor seating, activities, food, and [...]

Several Better Block’s are occurring this month so we look forward to reporting on all of the projects around the country shortly. The Wichita Better Block wrapped up after a weekend transformation that included build out of cycle tracks, pedestrian bulb-outs, reverse angled-parking, safer cross walks, and pop-up businesses. A wide four-lane road with parking [...]

Be sure to pickup the latest copy of DWELL magazine which focuses on 99 new design ideas, people, products, and plans. The Better Block is spotlighted on page 106 alongside Vancouver’s Picnurbia, and Philadelphia’s The Porch projects.

The first better block in April of 2010 was done out of unbridled anticipation for positive change in our Oak cliff neighborhood of Dallas. We put blighted buildings and over sized streets with creative people and created a block that was alive. For the second better block in September of 2010 we partnered with local [...]

On May 26th, Cadence and urban planning students from FAU will hold Fort Lauderdale’s first Better Block project. The project is set to take place on NW 1st Avenue, between NW 5th and NW 6th Streets. More details can be found on their facebook page and twitter feed.

Through the past two years, we’ve developed numerous pop-up stores for our Better Block projects and have learned several lessons along the way that we hope others can use in developing their own stores. These ideas actually work well in permanent shops also, but we’ve had quite a bit of experience in building temporary businesses. [...]

Arlington, Texas, home of UTA, is pulling together its first Better Block inspired event called “Downtown Front and Center” on April 28th. From the website: Downtown Front and Center is a joint venture between the School of Urban and Public Affairs and the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington. This event [...]

Tulsa’s Young Professional group (TYPros) will host the second annual Street CReD in West Tulsa’s Red Fork area. This year’s event will focus on reviving the area’s rich history and building on the growing enthusiasm for Route 66. Last year’s Polishing the Pearl event was a huge success and brought out a large group of [...]

Cleveland is launching a second Better Block inspired event called Pop Up Rockwell, which will take place in Downtown Cleveland for the week of April 21st. The project is actually a class at Kent State’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) and looks at how the City can implement it’s new Green & Complete Streets policy. [...]