Do It Yourself!

One of the most interesting and different presentations I have ever encountered was during our January 12th class as we welcomed our first two speakers of the day, Rik Adamski and Debra Stein. The topic of this morning would be DIY Urbanism.What is DYI Urbanism? As described by Mr. Adamski, it is a phased approach to instigate change in any city along with citizen-generated alterations of the built environment. In other words, individuals or small groups of people work together to make an improvement or to communicate a message, typically at the scale of the urban block or building and create their own positive urban interventions. The intro picture above is part of the Urban Art Program initiative in New York City. The art will help foster more vibrant and attractive streets and offer the public new ways to experience the City's streetscapes.

Since the federal, state and local governments are tight on budgets and do not have the time and people to invest in DIY Urbanism, active city council members, volunteers, architects, engineers, city artists, small and local business owners take on the responsibility to initiate change. For example, Parking Day is an event where spaces normally reserved for cars are transformed for the day allowing residents to socialize in re-envisioned public spaces and encouraged to use sustainable construction materials. The goal is to make a more lively, active and community-oriented place to live and work. After a few hours, the spaces revert back to meter parking. PARK(ing) Day Dallas promotes the use of temporary green space as a form of community activism. Another form of DIY Urbanism is DIY Crossing which is just a way of reinventing, modernize and make the streets looks more playful than your ordinary pedestrian crossing. The Intersection Repair is a city led conversion of an urban street intersection into a public square/space. The community works together to make the place beautiful and a place where people can go and have fun and feel welcomed. Mr. Adamski mentioned many examples of DIY Urbanism and even though some of these might seem like you are vandalizing the place, you are not! There are a spectrum of tactics on how to get involved and do your own DIY space.

Debra Stein was our second speaker who also talked to us about how to embrace a street or a space and build a better block! She is an individual with so much energy and ready to take on any challenge that comes her way. With her experience and background such as in the visual arts, dance, art gallery owner, city council member, theater, real estate licensee, once upon a time a TV show actress and an employee of Disney she is perfect for any DIY Urbanism movement and is currently tackling a project of her own. She announced that she is taking on the challenge of incorporating DIY Urbanism into Riverside and Race Street (an area in Fort Worth, TX). She realized that this is an urban village with county funds ready to be used. An urban village is an area that has been designated for reinvention and reinvestment. Debra is trying to get people out of their homes and into the streets by bringing in many small/local shoppes, DIY murals, paintings or crossings and mix-use zoning. Anything to make the place feel alive and a space for everyone to enjoy and socialize. She named it, the Riverside Arts District and it has definitely been a community driven district with many stakeholders involved.

I can't help but think how great both Debra Stein and Rik Adamski were for spreading the word and making us all aware about something I had no idea excited or was even a concept. DIY Urbanism is definitely something fun and exciting and worth every minute of someones time to make their area more beautiful, enjoyable and you get to meet people. This is something I would definitely look into for volunteering and would like to look for those areas around my community. There's not a better feeling than knowing you have helped your community thrive and it is more beautiful place because of you.

"You have to stand for something or else you'll fall for everything" quoted Debra Stein