Maximum Impact and a Low Price Tag: Putting Paint and Planters to Work in Edmond, OK
What would you do if you were asked for ideas on how to improve a struggling street within the constraints of a small budget?
We field questions like this all the time at Strong Towns because we talk so much about streets needing to be safe and productive. People want to fix their streets to make them better. They want to slow the cars and increase the actual community-building capacity of a street—not the traffic throughput capacity.
See Something, Do Something
As a licensed architect, urban designer, and Strong Towns member, Anthony Catania grapples with the above question all the time and has created many designs for communities of diverse sizes. He is part of a community of designers who know how to successfully slow cars, increase accessibility, and create beautiful places for people to walk, work, and gather.
In one case, he was approached by a business owner in Edmond, Oklahoma, who wanted to do something to improve Broadway, a primarily retail-oriented street at the heart of the city. The goal was to create even more opportunities for business success on four blocks of Broadway in downtown Edmond. This business owner had learned that the city might have a small amount of funding available to try out a few improvements. The situation on the ground meant that any design would need to be piloted for a period of time before it was converted into anything permanent. Broadway serves an average of 6,946 cars per day with four traffic lanes, even though streets all over the country routinely handle traffic volumes under 10,000 cars per day with two lanes of traffic.
Over the course of a Sunday afternoon, Anthony created a simple and achievable plan to transform four blocks of Broadway that used two common ingredients: paint and planters.
(Click to enlarge, or read the full proposal. Source: Anthony Catania.)
Why Is This the Right Approach for Broadway?
It Begins With the First Increment of Change
Instead of proposing a large project that would tear up concrete roadway, relocate curbs and the stormwater drainage catchbasins, and cost a lot of money, Anthony’s proposal made it clear that the first action could be taken with very little cost and every opportunity to refine.
The inner traffic lanes would remain and new bike lanes would be placed in a portion of the outer traffic lanes. The remainder of that space would be striped for parallel parking and expanded sidewalks and patio areas in front of the local businesses.
This is an example of tactical urbanism, an approach to public space that involves making “small bets”: “small, temporary projects that require little to no money to execute, which allow people to test out a new design in a public space. It might be a crosswalk created with temporary paint or a bus stop enhanced with lightweight, moveable lawn furniture. The goal is to trial a concept and, if it works well, perhaps implement it more permanently down the line—striping that crosswalk in permanent paint, or installing a full-size bench at the bus stop.”
Examples of tactical urbanism. (Source: Strong Towns.)
It Is Inexpensive and Will Generate Wealth
The proposal that Anthony created is marked by a creative adaptation of a street within the constraints of the funding available. As he explained in his proposal, the costs are minimal to the city and the potential returns are immense.
Anthony’s proposal uses planters to mark out the space that is newly freed up for people who are sitting down for a moment, window-shopping, or just wandering up and down Broadway. He also uses paint to alert drivers that they are entering a place where the primary objective of the street has shifted from the rapid movement of cars to the slow-paced presence of people walking on foot, using wheelchairs or strollers, and riding bicycles.
Parallel vs. “Head-In” Parking?
Anthony’s proposal introduces parallel parking on Broadway in place of angled, “head-in” parking. This is an improvement. Whether you feel it or not, there is an underlying tension that emerges when we walk on a sidewalk with dozens of vehicle grilles facing us and headlights pulling in toward us. Our inner threat perception knows a car can be accelerated onto the sidewalk at any moment. This is not as uncommon as you would think, and groups like the American Society of Landscape Architects and Storefront Safety Council are trying to address this with new design standards which fit well with Anthony’s design for Broadway.
(Image source: Twitter / Storefront Safety.)
The combination of planters and paint is a familiar one within the world of getting things done by making small bets on things that will offer immediate benefits. In time, those planters could be supplemented with bollards and other streetscape improvements like benches, lights, and trees, but a starting point that is inexpensive and adaptable is a highlight of Anthony’s design.
It Is Informed by Local Need and Knowledge of Human Experience
Another highlight of the proposal is that it arose from an awareness of local needs on Broadway and Anthony’s interest in the concerns of local residents. Businesses were limited by the scarcity of space outside their doors, lower levels of foot traffic, and the constraints of the street as a place for sitting, strolling, and gathering.
The problems confronting business owners on this four-block section of Broadway are familiar to thousands of others across North America. Big box stores on the edges of town lure customers away from smaller, local businesses with the promise of convenience. The streetside patio introduced on Broadway prior to any street improvements is hampered by the adjacent noise and proximity of moving vehicles, making it hard for people to want to explore the area. In short, the experience of being outside of a vehicle on Broadway is less pleasant than it will be if genuine improvements are made.
Broadway. (Source: Google Maps.)
By taking the best insights of urban design and the Strong Towns perspective on what a street should be—a platform for building wealth—Anthony’s design gives an opportunity for Broadway to become home to a greater diversity of businesses and other uses on the wider sidewalks. More sidewalk dining and other seating areas will encourage people to linger and, critically for the well-being of local businesses, spend money. This approach would introduce new ways to generate wealth on Broadway by allowing new vendors, community groups, musicians, and many other users to make use of the public spaces freed from their current use as a travel lane for automobiles.
It is Inspiring as an Example for Other Communities
At Strong Towns, we’re inspired by the ideas, skills, and actions taken by our members, and Anthony’s example is a great one. He has, at the request of business owners and residents, addressed an underperforming area and come up with concrete ways to improve it.
Who wouldn’t want to walk (or even drive) on the improved version of Broadway described in his project brief?
Looking Ahead
We don’t know how this proposal will fare within Edmond as local leaders review it, alongside other alternatives for Broadway, but it should serve as an inspiration and example for other communities.
Anthony’s readiness to spend a Sunday afternoon creating a design that was a labor of love for him is a great example of the energy that is driving the Strong Towns movement. He learned of a need and set out to address it. He shows that a modest but skillful design can make a big difference in Edmond and elsewhere.
Does your community have streets that resemble Broadway in terms of width, usage, and need? Perhaps some work with paint and planters will open the door for a renewal of your community!
