By Siraj Asfahani | June 1, 2015
On Thursday May 7th at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), Kyle Smith of CNT and Ian Sisson of The Lakota Group co-hosted a “Tactical Urbanism Slam” with their respective organizations, the Congress for New Urbanism – Illinois Chapter (CNU-IL), and the American Institute of Architects Chicago Chapter (AIA Chicago).
The event featured eight speakers with backgrounds ranging from architecture to planning, community and economic development, tourism, and public art. Presentations were delivered in the PechaKucha 20×20 format, a fast-paced and highly visual style that consists of 20 slides timed at 20 seconds each. Each speaker presented on the topic of tactical urbanism, which was defined by the host organizations as simple and creative interventions that activate public space and make cities more interesting and engaging places to explore and live in.
The event was attended by over 85 members of Chicago’s planning and design community, and served as a call for collaboration and action on new projects in the city. A discussion and networking session followed the presentations and led to many new connections, opportunities, and ideas.
CNU-IL and AIA Chicago hope to reconnect later in the summer to design and implement a tactical urbanism project. Stay tuned!
A full video of the presentations is available here: https://vimeo.com/128293078
