Designing for Public Life: Atlanta’s new guide for community-led tactical urbanism
The City of Atlanta is excited to launch the first iteration of the Atlanta Tactical Urbanism Guide (TU Guide). The Department of City Planning and Department of Transportation have partnered together to create a process that streamlines City approval for community-led tactical interventions in the right-of-way. The goal of the TU Guide is to provide step-by-step instructions so that community organizations can fund, lead, design and implement their own demonstration-style projects. Tactical urbanism is a strategy used all over the world which encompasses a wide range of project and location types. The Fall 2020 release of the Atlanta TU Guide is our first step to making this approach viable for Atlanta communities. We will continue to develop and adjust the guide as we evaluate the needs of our residents and the success and failures of the process.
Crosswalk art by Krista Jones in East Atlanta Village
Tactical urbanism enables low-cost, short-term change to the public realm. These interventions are often used to advance longer-term goals related to street safety and the design of public spaces. Tactical urbanism is temporary in nature, using tactical materials while demonstrating the potential of long-term change.
Streets make up most of our public realm and therefore hold tremendous opportunity to improve our quality of life. Tactical urbanism is one of the many tools we can leverage to ensure our streets are safe for all users (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists) and, just like our parks, encourage vibrant public life. Tactical urbanism projects can be led by many different entities to create impactful changes with fewer resources. Because of its lower cost and temporary nature, this approach also creates the opportunity for community organizations, such as neighborhood associations, neighborhood planning units, and community development corporations, to lead interventions they want in their own neighborhoods.
“To achieve the goal of Vision Zero, we must use every tool available to reduce the speed of vehicular traffic and to repurpose excess roadway pavement. This tactical urbanism guide represents an outstanding opportunity for the community to partner with the City to make physical changes to promote safety within our streets. I’m eager to see the creative ideas this process will generate.”
“From quick-build walkways and parklets to asphalt art, tactical urbanism is a key tool in our mission to design a vibrant public realm. We are thrilled to collaborate with ATLDOT on this initiative by providing design standards for communities to implement new projects in their neighborhoods.”
Getting into the details
To ensure the safety of all street users and the coordination of traffic operations, community-led projects must be approved by the Department of Transportation which oversees the City’s rights-of-way. Although the City already had a process in place to approve large capital improvements, the requirements for this approval were burdensome for small-scale tactical projects.
Slow street in Capitol View - Mural by Ashley Danielle Thomas
We spent the past several months developing an approval process that is specific to tactical projects to encourage and support these types of interventions. The TU Guide includes step-by-step instructions of the approval and installation process, design standards for eligible project types that provide clear guidance on what is and is not allowed, detailed materials library for reference, and examples of the documents needed throughout the process.
Eligibility
There are a lot of factors that go into creating a successful and safe intervention and the City is committed to developing and adapting the process to serve Atlantans well. The guide released this Fall is just the first step. With this first release, we have created a pathway for crosswalk art, curb extensions, parklets, slow streets, traffic signal box art, and walk lanes. This initial list of projects leverages what the City has already learned through similar City-led interventions. We are currently developing design standards for bike lanes, bus stop enhancements, among others to be released soon. Our goal is to continually expand the library of eligible project types to fit the needs of Atlanta neighborhoods. We see the guide as a living document with frequent updates, adjustments, and additions.
Currently, not all streets are eligible for community-led tactical projects. This version of the guide focuses primarily on residential streets and neighborhood commercial nodes which generally have lower vehicular speeds and volumes. Classified as local and collector streets, they require less traffic data and engineering to ensure safety and to coordinate traffic operations making them ideal for community-led interventions.
Through City-led projects, we are also leveraging tactical urbanism strategies to implement change along other street types. The Safer Streets Initiative, Peachtree Shared Street Study, Edgewood Avenue restriping, and Jackson Street Bridge Overlook are all examples of on-going tactical projects. As we learn from these City-led interventions, we will re-assess the eligibility of community-led projects on additional street types.
Additional City support
We understand that even with this process, some communities and organizations may require additional support to take advantage of tactical urbanism. Requirements such as insurance and bonding can sometimes create barriers for implementation. We are working across departments to develop better solutions for barriers to entry. In addition, the City is currently re-branding and adapting the former Placemaking Grant Program to provide funding and technical assistance for community projects through a competitive application process. So far, we have worked with Cascade Heights, Chosewood Park, East Atlanta Village, Grant Park, Sylvan Hills, Upper Westside CID and West End to implement community projects. Applications for the next round of projects will open in 2021.
Tactical walk lane in Chosewood Park
Getting Involved
Have an idea for a project type or feedback on our process? We would love to hear from you! We are planning an engagement session to gather input as we prepare for the next version of the TU Guide.
Please follow @atldot and @atlplanning or check out our events calendar to keep up with upcoming engagement dates.
East Atlanta Village