It started amid the pandemic, with walkers, joggers, and skateboarders taking to the streets to maintain social distance in the face of crowded sidewalks. Next, stores rolled out sidewalk merchandise displays. Then some restaurants set up temporary parklets for al fresco dining and sipping coffee where cars once parked along street curbs.

They were grass roots acts, often in desperation, carried out in response to the COVID-19. They followed the spirit of “just do it” urban planning articulated in Tactical Urbanism by planners Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia in 2015.

+INFO: Colorado Boulevard