Reclaim Your Streets: 5 Essential Guides & Studies
Tactical urbanism is changing the way we approach city-building, proving that quick, low-cost changes to public spaces can have a lasting impact—without massive budgets or years of planning.
It’s no wonder cities across North America are turning to this approach. Jersey City, New Jersey (pop: 292,449) has embedded tactical urbanism into its transportation planning, using quick-build projects to test bike lanes and pedestrian plazas before making permanent investments. Price, Utah (pop: 8,312) has leveraged temporary interventions to activate underutilized spaces and pilot ideas. Even rural communities in Appalachia are increasingly looking towards quick-builds to enliven their downtowns.
Strong Towns members have been at the forefront of this movement. In Provo, Utah, following the tragic death of a 15-year-old pedestrian, advocate Austin Taylor and the organization BikeWalk Provo implemented a tactical urbanism project to enhance street safety. They utilized low-cost, temporary measures to redesign the street, aiming to slow down traffic and protect pedestrians. This initiative not only addressed immediate safety concerns but also served as a model for community-led interventions.
In 2015, urban planner and Strong Towns member Marielle Brown helped organize a series of bold, temporary street redesigns in St. Louis to slow down dangerous traffic. With help from Trailnet, local planners, and public health advocates, her team rolled out speed humps, curb bump-outs, and even a mini traffic circle to show what safer streets could look like—right on the pavement. The impact was real: the city passed a new ordinance to allow speed humps, aldermen began allocating money for traffic calming, and a hazardous school intersection got a permanent redesign.
With more cities testing these strategies, researchers are now able to quantify what supporters have known for years: tactical urbanism delivers real economic and social returns. This expanding body of research—ranging from government reports to hands-on manuals and case studies—provides communities with a roadmap to create stronger, more connected, and economically resilient neighborhoods.
Maybe you’re an advocate frustrated by slow-moving bureaucracy and eager to show local leaders why quick-build strategies should be part of their toolkit. Or an elected official looking for hard data to back up the success stories you’ve seen firsthand. Or perhaps you're a business owner wondering how these projects could increase foot traffic and sales in your district. Whatever your role, this list has something for you.
→ Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change by Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia
Written by two pioneers of the movement, Tactical Urbanism is essential reading. Through case studies—from guerrilla wayfinding in Raleigh to parking-to-park conversions in San Francisco and a street art campaign sparking a new streetcar line in El Paso—the book showcases the versatility and impact of the tactical approach while offering practical advice on adapting initiatives to local contexts and challenges.
→ Quantifying tactical urbanism: Economic impact of short-term pedestrianization on retail establishments (2025)
By employing large-scale transaction datasets and mobile device tracking, this study is one of the first to quantitatively measure the economic impact of a temporary pedestrianization experiment, providing robust evidence that supports the claims made by proponents of tactical urbanism.
The study set out to answer two critical questions:
Whether the short-term pedestrianization of Midosuji Avenue in Osaka, Japan can increase retailers' sales volume, and
Whether an intervention on a specific street has a spatial spillover effect on neighboring streets, resulting in increased sales volumes, and consequently, a sales increase for the entire district.
Midosuji Avenue in Osaka, Japan.
In the process, researchers confirmed that pedestrianization transforms streets into trip destinations, rather than just points of transit. Previous studies have shown that tactical interventions lead to positive impacts on health and mobility, but few have explored how such interventions can drive economic growth. The results from Midosuji Avenue suggest that when streets become destinations, they encourage exploration, increase visitor engagement, and directly boost local business revenues.
→ Evaluating Tactical Urbanism in Jersey City (2019)
This report, commissioned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and produced by Equitable Cities, evaluates the impacts of quick-build projects in New Jersey—specifically in Jersey City—on safety, mobility, and community well-being. A key takeaway: the implementation of quick-build interventions can result in a measurable reduction in vehicle speeds and therefore crashes and near-misses.
The report underscores that quick-build projects can serve as effective, scalable models for improving urban mobility and safety without requiring long and costly construction timelines. It also provides policy recommendations for municipalities looking to integrate these interventions into long-term transportation strategies.
★ In case you missed it, here’s Strong Towns’ reporting on Jersey City
→ Rural America Placemaking Toolkit
The Rural America Placemaking Toolkit is a comprehensive resource designed to assist rural communities in identifying and implementing placemaking projects that align with their unique capacities and goals. Developed through a collaboration between USDA Rural Development and the University of Kentucky's Blueprint Kentucky, the toolkit offers a variety of resources, including financial and technical assistance for the rural context, case studies, and guidance on how to leverage cross-sector partnerships to support placemaking efforts.
→ Better Block’s “Recipe” Library
Ready to build a parklet or paint a crosswalk? Before you hit the streets, check out Better Block’s “Recipe” Library for step-by-step guides and best practices.
Each guide outlines materials, detailed instructions, and cost estimates, making it easy for communities to bring their ideas to life. By providing these DIY tools, Better Block empowers neighborhoods to experiment with street improvements before committing to permanent changes.
★ Read about how Better Block teamed up with Tulsa entrepreneurs to turn a non-place into a beloved space in just three days.
Better Block’s project in Tulsa, Oklahoma (2023)
While the resources listed above come from outside organizations, Strong Towns has a wealth of tools, guides, and insights to help you enrich your community. Our Action Lab is packed with practical strategies for making meaningful change, whether you’re advocating for safer streets, launching a small-scale project, or pushing for policy reform.
Want to go even deeper? By becoming a Strong Towns member, you’ll gain access to exclusive Ask-Me-Anything sessions, special events, and a front-row seat to the projects and tools we’re actively developing. Join a growing movement of people working to build stronger, more financially resilient communities—one placemaking intervention at a time.
Asia (pronounced “ah-sha”) Mieleszko serves as a Staff Writer for Strong Towns. A dilettante urbanist since adolescence, she's excited to convert a lifetime of ad-hoc volunteerism into a career. Her unconventional background includes directing a Ukrainian folk choir, pioneering synaesthetic performances, photographing festivals, designing websites, teaching, and ghostwriting. She can be found wherever Wi-Fi is reliable, typically along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.