How do experiments play out on the street? You will be pleased to discover that creating change in public space can be a bottom-up process driven by temporary initiatives. We examine how temporary experiments can then be solidified into policies and permanent street changes after a successful experiment concludes. Oakland, USA and Milan, Italy are two places where policy makers have announced ambitious plans to transform their streets after witnessing a high level of political support for their experimental initiatives.

What happens when citizens encounter a bureaucracy? It is no easy feat to instill a system level change in large systems, whether it is government or another large technocratic organization. But even the largest bureaucracies are staffed by individual people, just like you and me. Where front-line individuals of an organization meet their constituents, the results can be particularly interesting. With certain rules and procedures in place, street-level professional have to be creative in how they navigate the conservative system world in order to create change that matters in the dynamic living world. We go to France to understand how activist groups have deployed their tactics to create change in the bureaucracy.

What is the role of traffic in our cities? While mobility (virtual and physical) is essential to accessing opportunity, is it possible to achieve mobility without traffic? In this block, you will read an academic paper that visits five cities around the world to explore creative solutions to the problem of traffic. In doing so, we find that by moving people more efficiently, we are able to repurpose the reclaimed space for more valuable uses, even in the middle of a highway. As it turns out, changing the way we talk about traffic, especially moving away from utilitarian language, is a powerful way to change perceptions of traffic for yourself and others.

What can individuals do to change the system? As it turns out, a connected group individuals united in a common goal is far more effective at creating change than any one person alone. You will read about how activists in London and Amsterdam leverage their internal and external relationships to mediate between themselves and the bureaucracy. We then go to New York for a reminder that traffic is not carved in stone. It is a clear sign of change when streets are eerily empty in a famous city known for its gridlock traffic.