Do–It–Yourself Urban Design: The Social Practice of Informal “Improvement” Through Unauthorized Alteration

Abstract

There are numerous ways in which people make illegal or unauthorized alterations to urban space. This study identifies and analyzes one that has been largely ignored in social science: explicitly functional and civic-minded informal contributions that I call "do-it-yourself urban design." The research, which began as an investigation into more "traditional" nonpermissable alterations, uncovered these casesfrom homemade bike lanes and street signs to guerrilla gardens and development proposals-that are gaining visibility in many cities, yet are poorly accounted for by existing perspectives in the literature. This article examines the existing theories and evidence from interviews and other fieldwork in 14 cities in order to develop the new analytical category of DIY urban design. I present findings on the creators of these interventions, on their motivations to "improve" the built environment where they perceive government and other development actors to be failing, and on the concentration of their efforts in gentrifying areas. This introduces the possibility of conflict and complicates their impact. I argue that DIY urban design has wide-ranging implications for both local communities and broader urban policy. INTRODUCTIONIn 2010, when the City of Pittsburgh altered the traffic pattern at a hillside intersection in Lawrenceville, an area resident noticed that the change was confusing to some motorists and resulting in fender-benders. Seeing a need for better signage, he put his skills as an artist and illustrator to use, mocking up a design on his computer, using official fonts he had "picked up here and there," printing the design on a home vinyl plotter, and attaching it to an aluminum backing ("based on, you know, municipal criteria and things," he explained to me). The result, a shiny red and white sign reading "Cross Traffic Does Not Stop," was fixed to a pole below the stop sign at the intersection. Two years later it still stands as a valuable addition-as its creator observed, "there's a lot less plastic and glass in the street"-with the only indication of its origins the small lettering at the bottom that read "DIYDPW": the Do-it-Yourself Department of Public Works.This sort of personal improvement to public space is not unique. In Los Angeles, one might find a group of friends painting a new bike lane along a road under cover of night; * Correspondence should be addressed to Gordon Douglas, Dept. of Sociology, University of Chicago, 1126 E. 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637; gdouglas@uchicago.edu. in New York, a woman designing innovative public seating and attaching it to existing infrastructure to make sitting and eating lunch on the street easier; in New Orleans, neighborhood residents writing their personal redevelopment ideas directly on abandoned structures and vacant lots; in Toronto, a man converting magazine racks and corporate advertisements into miniature herb gardens. What is happening? What motivates some citizens effectively to do urban planning and design work themselves?Together, these actions...

L’innovation de méthodes en urbanisme : freins et leviers d’une entreprise incertaine

“…Les expérimentations étudiées se situent dans la lignée de ces évolutions théoriques et méthodologiques. Certaines se développent aussi en référence à de nouvelles pratiques de l'urbanisme qui se déploient en dehors d'un cadre formel et institutionnel (comme l'urbanisme tactique) en vue de résoudre, rapidement et à peu de frais, un problème dans l'espace public (Douglas, 2014 ;Douay et Prévot, 2016 l'innovation a montré qu'ils constituent des conditions de l'innovation (Callon, 1986 ;Akrich et al, 1988) (Pinson, 2009 ;Gravari-Barbas, 2013 ;Saez, 2012 ;Vivant, 2009). Dans les cas étudiés, il s'agit de faire coopérer artistes et professionnels de l'urbain autour de problèmes auxquels ces derniers sont confrontés.…”

Steering clear of politics: local virtues in Helsinki's design activism

“…This means that business-led municipal and government strategies can facilitate and support notionally protest-driven initiatives or ones set up specifically to seek alternatives. In fact, the kind of activism I describe flourishes where creativity and culture have been instrumentalized as part of urban policy (Berglund 2013;Cocco and Szaniecki 2015;Douglas 2014;Novy and Colomb 2013). And as under conditions of neoliberalism generally, critique risks losing its edge, "every critical gesture […] quickly recuperated and neutralized by the forces of corporate capitalism" (Mouffe 2013: 85).…”

Designing for and against Symbolic Boundaries

“…This oppositional placemaking, or “black citymaking,” in Marcus Anthony Hunter's terminology, demonstrates that to create a “place” via official or “DIY urban design” (Douglas ) is an act of claiming ownership over that space for a particular use for a particular interest (also see Trudeau ). All placemaking and design efforts claim ownership of their physical environment and signal what uses are or are not condoned in that space.…”