Inch-by-inch and block-by-block, cities around the world are beginning to break up the half-century-long monopoly the private automobile has enjoyed over their public realm. Healthy, social, and mutually beneficial activities such as walking, cycling, and even good old fashioned loitering – when not severely restricted by misguided car-first policy – have been left fighting for scraps of street space for far too long.

The car's hegemony won’t be challenged without a fight, as Janette Sadik-Khan quickly discovered during her six-year reign as New York City’s Transportation Commissioner, reminding us “When you push the status quo, it pushes back, hard.” Knowing that seeing is truly believing, Sadik-Khan and her team would often roll into a location at the end of a business day, altering it with some paint, planters, and plastic chairs before the next morning; a strategy straight out of the Tactical Urbanism playbook.

While city officials often make the mistake of over-consulting and over-engineering a proposed solution, these lighter, quicker, cheaper options allow them to experiment with low-risk pilot projects before making them permanent (and yes, sometimes they might even fail). Structural changes to our streets also require a cultural change, and that can only happen when residents get to experience these dramatic transformations first-hand.

In reviewing Modacity's past 12 months of writing for our year-end review last week, one thing became glaringly obvious: 2016 was the year that cemented the critical role pilot projects can play in enhancing the livability of our urban environment. City builders looking to change the status quo would be wise to study their undeniable success, and considering replicating one or two into the places where they live, work, and play.

Vancouver’s Pavement-To-Plaza Projects