Guerrilla Urbanism

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Anondson
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Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby Anondson » May 4th, 2014, 5:48 pm

Residents get fed up with miserable urban conditions and have sometimes take to improving the urban environment themselves rather than wait for bureaucracy to get on with things. One familiar use of this are those little yellow 2D children holding up red flags telling folks to slow down because kids play nearby. Thought we could use a thread to capture and share instances we find.

Here is a story about someone fed up with parking sign confusion in New York and inventing a better parking sign.

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/25417945/c ... ffic-signs

I kind of like these signs.

mplsjaromir
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby mplsjaromir » May 16th, 2014, 8:52 am

Not sure where to post this but I was at MIA recently and in the exhibit of Finnish design they had an acid-house urbanism rap record. Apparently it was funded by a government program. Finland is a very cool place.

http://www.discogs.com/Tuomas-Toivonen- ... se/2793979

Anondson
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby Anondson » September 12th, 2014, 11:51 am

Brazilian city residents create their own bus stop signs.

http://popupcity.net/community-bus-stop ... rm-brazil/

twincitizen
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby twincitizen » September 12th, 2014, 12:53 pm

Anyone with graphic design skills want to draft something for the Twin Cities? I'll (seriously) pay to print the first 100 stickers. They might not survive the winter, but I'm willing to start a movement to show Metro Transit we're serious about getting better stop information. I don't think the stickers would even have to be as big as the ones they have in Brazil. Room to write the route number(s), direction, and the Stop ID# is probably plenty. This would be primarily for busier bus stops that do not have shelters today. Metro Transit's own audit indicated something like 400 stops that qualified for shelters, but didn't have them. We could start there (or just crowdsource it and let people put 'em up at the 10 stops closest to their home/work). I think even like 5 urbanmsp'ers could make a serious dent.

Let's do it! Who's our graphic design pro? Get me something soon and I'll start ordering stickers. First 100 are on me.

lordmoke
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby lordmoke » September 12th, 2014, 12:58 pm

If we used the same material stock as they do for bumper stickers, I'm sure we could make some that last quite a while.

IllogicalJake
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby IllogicalJake » September 12th, 2014, 1:44 pm

Anyone with graphic design skills want to draft something for the Twin Cities? I'll (seriously) pay to print the first 100 stickers. They might not survive the winter, but I'm willing to start a movement to show Metro Transit we're serious about getting better stop information. I don't think the stickers would even have to be as big as the ones they have in Brazil. Room to write the route number(s), direction, and the Stop ID# is probably plenty. This would be primarily for busier bus stops that do not have shelters today. Metro Transit's own audit indicated something like 400 stops that qualified for shelters, but didn't have them. We could start there (or just crowdsource it and let people put 'em up at the 10 stops closest to their home/work). I think even like 5 urbanmsp'ers could make a serious dent.

Let's do it! Who's our graphic design pro? Get me something soon and I'll start ordering stickers. First 100 are on me.
Get me some dimensions we're working with and I'll be more than happy to mock something up. Square? Rectangle? Any other thoughts? Should the information be printed on them or just write it in like the Brazil example?

Anyone else is still welcome to join or design or whatnot, too. The more the merrier.
i talk too much. web dev, downtown. admin @ tower.ly

Silophant
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby Silophant » September 12th, 2014, 2:04 pm

I'll help for sure. It's probably best to leave a blank space to handwrite info in, like the Brazil example, since each sticker is going to be unique. As far as material goes, there's a few stickers stuck to signs near the U that were there when I was a freshman, so bumper sticker material seems to last until someone takes the time to scrape it off.
Joey Senkyr
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twincitizen
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby twincitizen » September 12th, 2014, 2:15 pm

Hmm...I like the idea of just being able to stick it to the pole, right below the bus stop sign. So it should probably be oriented vertically like the Brazil example.

Keep in mind that the stops that need this most are the ones without shelters - the ones that just have a pole in the ground. We can put them at stops with shelters too, for consistency, but the primary focus is adding route information to stops that currently have none.

Metro Transit is swapping out bus stop signs for these soon: Image

So the most important thing is the route number(s), which the new bus stop signs will not provide(!)

Should we try to provide anything else besides the Route number?

We could keep this really simple and keep the sticker cost down. That way we can afford to do more of them.

RailBaronYarr
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby RailBaronYarr » September 12th, 2014, 2:40 pm

Only thing I would say is maybe the approximate frequency for each route by time of day (similar to the pop-up hover box on MT's website). Doesn't give you actual schedule, but at least tells you how often it runs for major blocks of the day. I dunno, is that helpful enough to not be helpful?

MinnMonkey
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby MinnMonkey » September 12th, 2014, 2:43 pm

Hmm...I like the idea of just being able to stick it to the pole, right below the bus stop sign. So it should probably be oriented vertically like the Brazil example.

Keep in mind that the stops that need this most are the ones without shelters - the ones that just have a pole in the ground. We can put them at stops with shelters too, for consistency, but the primary focus is adding route information to stops that currently have none.

Metro Transit is swapping out bus stop signs for these soon: Image

So the most important thing is the route number(s), which the new bus stop signs will not provide(!)

Should we try to provide anything else besides the Route number?

We could keep this really simple and keep the sticker cost down. That way we can afford to do more of them.
I really wish the new signs had a QR code that would bring you to the NexTrip web-page for that stop.

mulad
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby mulad » September 12th, 2014, 6:35 pm

What would you stick anything to, though? Aside from the occasional bus stop sign mounted to a big lamppost, there typically isn't much room. I've been wondering what it costs to get a box and mounting hardware like what Metro Transit occasionally does for their printed schedules or places where they acknowledge that multiple bus routes share the same stop.

That said, you can probably find 100 relatively heavily-used stops with a flat space somewhere near the bus stop to do some guerilla signage that doesn't need extra hardware.

Anondson
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby Anondson » September 12th, 2014, 6:37 pm

I think a good designer could make it simple enough to fit a tall narrow sticker right on the post.

Silophant
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby Silophant » September 13th, 2014, 10:36 pm

Yeah, the posts are 3" pipe, which is wide enough for two characters, which is all we need in most instances. I think that's all we should put on them, really. Maybe leave a spot to write in the stop number if you happen upon a post that hasn't gotten the new sign yet.

Also, I can't believe how frustratingly bad the new sign policy is. No info but the stop number, and then not even bothering to say something like "input this stop number at metrotransit.org"? It's not like the services finder is common knowledge.
Joey Senkyr
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mattaudio
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby mattaudio » September 14th, 2014, 7:45 am

Coroplast and zipties. I have a prototype that lasted three months in the winter near my house with minimal weathering.

EOst
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby EOst » September 14th, 2014, 8:41 am

2-3" is about the standard width of a bumper sticker. It'd be easy enough to get those printed on durable bumper sticker stock.

Coroplast and tiptoes would give more room, but it'd also be easier to remove (which I suspect MT would start trying to do).

mattaudio
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby mattaudio » September 14th, 2014, 8:53 am

Not if public opinion is for it. That's one of the first rules of tactical urbanism.

EOst
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby EOst » September 14th, 2014, 8:59 am

And a media strategy.

mattaudio
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby mattaudio » September 14th, 2014, 9:08 am

Exactly. It's worth a try.

ECtransplant
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby ECtransplant » September 14th, 2014, 10:56 am

Would it be possible to print on to the bumper sticker a QR code that directs to the Metro Transit mobile site address for the stop number?

grant1simons2
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Re: Guerrilla Urbanism

Postby grant1simons2 » September 14th, 2014, 11:50 am

You can create QR codes using this site https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/ and save it into a design. Putting a Nextrip logo above it would be pretty cool too


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