In the battle for street safety, crossing guards are on the front lines. Their verdict: The streets outside of schools are extremely unsafe. One crossing guard in Denver decided to do something about it.
Read More
Here’s how advocates in Omaha, Nebraska, got their Department of Public Works to complete a quick-build street safety project so fast that “it felt like waving a magic wand.” (Hint: Find out if your community has a business improvement district, stat.)
Read More
In this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Sarah, a Local Conversation leader, to talk about the bike racks she and her friends have been building and installing around their city.
Read More
In this debut episode of Bottom-Up Shorts, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Manav Sharma, a Local Conversation leader, to discuss his group’s use of stickers in their advocacy.
Read More
I’d rather smother a boot in gravy and eat it than deal with a labyrinth of city regulations, procedures and fees. Loopholes are a great way to avoid that. Here are three loopholes to help you move forward when your project is running up against a bureaucratic nightmare
Read More
American bus stops often leave people exposed to the elements without even a place to sit as they wait for their buses to arrive. Here’s how advocates around the country are tackling this problem — and how their cities are responding.
Read More
Indianapolis officials are encouraging residents to be involved in improving the city through a number of initiatives. In this Upzoned episode, Chuck and Abby discuss the benefits of these programs and the growing pains cities will face as they make this kind of positive change.
Read More
There’s a troubling narrative out there that you can only get things done in your community if you’re in public office, or by otherwise working through official, formal channels. But this is simply not true.
Read More
Traffic calming interventions are best when they not only make the environment safer for everyone outside of a car, but when they do so in a way that reduces the mental load for drivers.
Read More
There’s no excuse: when members of a community see a dangerous street for what it is, it shouldn’t take a death (or several deaths) for the city to finally take action.
Read More
When a young child ended up in intensive care after being struck by a car, this Cincinnati Local Conversation group didn’t wait to take action to make the street safer.
Read More
When Chattanooga, TN, resident Jon Jon Wesolowski noticed a broken guardrail on an overpass, he thought, “the city should’ve put something up for pedestrians.” But then he realized: he could do something about it, himself.
Read More
Temporary projects can help cities take the guesswork out of new infrastructure.
Read More
Armed with paint and traffic cones, this Local Conversation group in Portland, OR, made a dangerous intersection safer to cross…in only 80 minutes!
Read More
This neighborhood organization creates safe street design and stops speeding, but they might have to wait five years for a permanent fix.
Read More
This block in Tulsa, AZ, got a makeover in this community-led placemaking event, showing that you don’t need a lot of money to transform an empty space into a community asset.
Read More
An advocacy group was able to respond immediately to make this intersection in San Francisco safer, following a deadly crash—so why can’t the city do the same?
Read More
When this Texan city’s bus system fell into decline, local advocates took the next smallest (but highly effective) step toward making their public transit more hospitable: by installing homemade bus benches.
Read More
Baltimore is reclaiming an urban landscape that has been made inhospitable by cars—using art!
Read More
After his friend was struck while cycling on one of Philadelphia’s busiest bike routes in 2015, David Brindley began collecting stray cones to create his own protected bike lane.
Read More