Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team to Host Tactical Urbanism Salon in Memphis

How Short-Term Actions Yield Long-Term Change in Memphis Neighborhoods

July 20^th, 2012 – Memphis, TN — The Memphis Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team is partnering with The Street Plans Collaborative to produce a free Tactical Urbanism Salon on September 22^nd, 2012. The Salon will be held at 363 South Main (Leadership Memphis Gallery), from 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. and is being supported by the Memphis Regional Design Center and Livable Memphis.

Named by the urban planning news site Planetizen as one of the top planning trends for 2011-2012, Tactical Urbanism focuses on implementing low-cost, short-term actions and pilot projects to test new ideas for the built environment. Temporary, low-risk experimentation allows Tactical Urbanism projects to prove their immediate value to neighborhoods and cities, which can then leverage larger investment in permanent, long-term improvements. Examples of Tactical Urbanism in Memphis include National PARK(ing) Day, A New Face for an Old Broad (on Broad Ave.), food truck rodeos, pop-up retail installations, and others.

 The September 22^nd Salon will highlight opportunities available to individuals, organizations, and local government to address neighborhood challenges through a tactical urbanism approach. Successful Salons held in Queens, NY, and Philadelphia, PA, attracted nationwide participation and media attention.

 “Street Plans is very excited about bringing the Tactical Urbanism Salon to the City of Memphis, especially in tandem with international PARK(ing) Day,” said Principal Mike Lydon. “It’s clear that the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team is having an impact in Memphis and we think the Salon will help strengthen community collaboration and highlight the role tactical urbanism can play in the larger project of making Memphis’ neighborhoods strong, safe, and vibrant.”

 “The Innovation Delivery Team is charged with finding new strategic ways to confront big urban problems, and that’s really what tactical urbanism is all about,” said Tommy Pacello, Project Manager for the team.  “By our very nature, Memphians are creative, fearless, disruptive people who love to get our hands dirty.  That’s why the tactical urbanism events that have taken place here so far have been successful.  This salon is intended to introduce even more people to the concept that small-scale, community-driven activities can have a long-term positive impact on a Neighborhood. These neighborhoods belong to you and it is your responsibility to make them to make them great places.”

For more information, please visit the Tactical Urbanism Salon website http://tacticalurbanismsalon.com/, or contact Tommy Pacello, Project Manager for the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team at Thomas.Pacello@Memphistn.gov

About PARK(ing) Day

The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat. This is an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks. A collaboration between Memphis College of Art, Downtown Memphis Commission, the City of Memphis, AIA Memphis and the Memphis Regional Design Center, Memphis was one of 162 cities worldwide that participated in this event in 2011. Along Peabody Place between Front Street and Second Street, 17 volunteer teams transformed parking spaces into playful and generous parks.

About the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team

Innovation Delivery Teams help mayors develop and deliver powerful solutions to major urban challenges. Memphis Mayor A C Wharton is one of five mayors nationwide to receive an Innovation Delivery Team grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Over the next three years, Mayor Wharton’s Innovation Delivery Team will focus on developing innovative new strategies for reducing handgun violence, particularly among juveniles, and restoring economic vitality to Memphis’ core city. 

 About The Street Plans Collaborative

The Street Plans Collaborative is an urban planning, design, and advocacy firm with offices in New York City and Miami. The firm is responsible for creating the free, web-based Tactical Urbanism Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 publications. www.streetplans.org

We’ve got pallet chairs on deck for Saturday! 

Thanks to Katie Winkler and Philly Works for making it happen.