By Eric Hoke, Design Director

6 min read - Summary of a tactical urbanism project where the objective was to create an artistic gateway in tandem with the WeHo Art Crawl.

*Family crossing at the Intersection Intervention*

The #intersectionintervention is part of an engagement process that has involved neighbors in Wedgewood-Houston dating back to the Civic Design Center’s 2018 Annual Luncheon featuring Mike Lydon, co-author of Tactical Urbanism. TURBO has continued conversations with community members to create placemaking installations that strengthen the identity of the artisan & maker community that exists in this area.

*A young urbanist studying one of the traffic calming dove bulb-outs murals*

Install Day

Along with this art mural intervention, TURBO worked with CONVERGE and The Packing Plant to display of pop-up creative placemaking installations at the Wedgewood-Houston Art Crawl.

This intersection intervention took place alongside the WeHo Art Crawl and the pop-up Grassroots Art Park in an under utilized plot of land that encouraged art crawlers to explore public space. The Grassroots Art Park was a sculpture garden that showcased a variety of 3D artists including Golden Cone 2019 Winners, Hastings Architecture’s, Parklet Portal Columns.

Mural design by Alysha Irisari Malo, *Aerial photograph by R.C. Mathews Contractor*

Grassroots Art Park in action

Learn more about this project on the TURBO website. Thank you to all who contributed:

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Planning The Install

September - October 2019

The map above shows where potential TURBO Placemaking installations could go. The areas highlight are base on locations selected through multiple neighborhood engagement sessions and local stakeholder meetings.

Three top priority locations were selected at the Wedgewood-Houston Neighborhood Design Workshop in May of 2019.

SNAP Intersection: The intersection of Humphreys and Martin was selected as the top priority for the neighborhood because of its proximity to SNAP (one of the oldest neighborhood organizations in Nashville). Highlighting this as an important place using art and traffic calming bulb-outs could signify to passersby that they are in a celebrated part of the neighborhood.

Some discussions at the Design Workshop centered around the potential of a neighborway on Martin St. Neighborways are a type of bikeway that creates a safe biking route by slowing down traffic on the street instead of installing separated bike lanes. These projects can be accomplished without removing any driving lanes or many parking spots—rather, through calming traffic on neighborhood streets. A Martin Street Neighborway could be a great tool to implement placemaking along this part of Wedgewood-Houston. Designing tactical urbanism installations at critical intersections can make people feel safer when walking and biking on Martin. As art is an important piece of this community, ground murals could be included in the designs of these traffic calming methods. The Martin Street Neighborway could be an indicator to people that they are in Wedgewood-Houston.

Chestnut Train Bridge Intersection: During the workshop, the neighborhood identified the Chestnut St and Hagan St intersection as a dangerous crossing and an important connectivity piece of the neighborhood. Leaving the Wedgewood-Houston, the bridge is one of the few crossings over the railroad tracks. This presents an opportunity for an artistic “gateway treatment” of some kind. Another challenge at this intersection is the number of automobiles that roll the stop signs at this intersection. This creates a challenge for some people crossing here, even when they are in marked crosswalks. Because this intersection is so wide it may be able to accommodate a traffic circle.

*Image showing potential for alley connections and public space activations*

Alley Activation: At the Neighborhood Workshop, activation of a connected alley network throughout Wedgewood-Houston was important to the people in attendance. The opportunity to create a fun active art alley was very exciting to the group. The SNAP and Train Bridge Intersections are almost directly connected by an alley where a display of public art and interactivity could showcase the creativity of the neighborhood.

WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON BASELINE PUBLIC LIFE STUDY

August 2019

This study examines how pedestrians, cyclists, and other active street users interact with public space in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. Many citizens have submitted TURBO Work Orders identifying the need for better pedestrian and cyclist upgrades in this area, as new businesses take root.

This study seeks to identify the most strategic locations for future TURBO interventions, as well as set a data baseline to measure future improvements.

Using pens and clipboards, volunteers recorded pedestrian traffic at each corner for one 10-minute period each hour plus 2 additional counts, for a total of 6 samples per corner. Each time a pedestrian crossed a plane shown on the map, they were counted once. If they crossed both planes at a corner, the first plane they crossed was counted. Data were digitized using ArcGIS, with the thickness of each color band reflecting the number of travelers counted at that plane in a given hour.

PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST STUDY DURING ARTS & MUSIC AT WEDGEWOOD HOUSTON AUGUST 3, 2019, 5:30-9:30 PM

ARTS & MUSIC AT WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON is South Nashville’s monthly art walk. Each first Saturday, beginning commercial art galleries, artist run collectives, open studios, maker spaces, and pop-ups open their doors to art lovers across Nashville.

Intersections with a high density of art galleries and bars such as Gray & Hagan, as well as Houston Street, experienced the heaviest foot traffic. Pedestrians were evenly distributed across the four zones at the beginning of the night. After sunset (around 8:00 pm), they shifted heavily towards Houston Street, where there was a live band and food trucks, as well as the intersection of Martin Street and Merrit Avenue, where Diskin Cidery is located.

Intersections next to parking lots saw especially high traffic, suggesting that many art crawl attendees arrived there by car. Intersections facing the neighborhoods, such as Martin St. & Merrit Ave and Chestnut Street & Hagan recorded much less foot traffic. This hints that few people walked to the art crawl from nearby. The data show consistent North / South traffic along with Martin Street and East/West traffic along Houston Avenue. Very few cyclists have recorded: a total of just 5 over the study. Scattered thunderstorms occurred early in the evening which may have limited foot and bike traffic through about 8:00 pm. Rain is a normal part of the climate in this neighborhood, however, so this data still holds valuable insight.

Observed pedestrians were 52% Women, 48% men. Across both genders, 56% were between 20 - 30 years old, 38% 31 - 64, with just a few teenagers and children. This suggests that this time of day and event is most popular with young adults, followed by older groups. However, few families and children use this space during this time of day.

WE ARE WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON: NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN WORKSHOP

May 2019

Converge partnered with TURBO to host a neighborhood design day to identify areas of concern in Wedgewood-Houston related to public space and traffic improvements. During the session, representatives from TURBO, part of the Nashville Civic Design Center, worked with attendees from the neighborhood to choose priority locations, and design possible interventions that improve neighborhood safety, mobility, and creativity. This input will inform a future installation with TURBO, Converge, SNAP, and interested neighbors to pilot solutions at the chosen locations in Wedgewood-Houston.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK

December 2018

On November 7th 2018 the Design Center and TURBO hosted a reception and community engagement session at Diskin Cidery with residents of Wedgewood-Houston, to solicit suggestions for public space improvement projects in the neighborhood. Residents talked with NCDC staff during an open-house style session, which included opportunities to record project ideas on a neighborhood map and category list.

Neighbors’ feedback generally centered around enhancing neighborhood accessibility and safety, while improving entrances into the neighborhood through placemaking projects. Other suggestions included more access to existing and future greenspace, installing B-Cycle stations and bike infrastructure, activating Wedgewood Houston’s numerous alleys, and creating parklets throughout the neighborhood.

TURBO will continue working with neighborhood leaders and interested neighbors to prioritize the project list, and begin identify funding to support the installation of demonstration projects. Through this process, TURBO hopes to build momentum for larger and more permanent improvements to the neighborhood that enhance Wedgewood-Houston’s Safety and Mobility, while showcasing the neighborhood’s vibrant Creativity.

MARTIN ST DEMONSTRATION

November 2018

TURBO is prepared for a demonstration pop-up crosswalk and mural at Diskin Cidery, in support of Design Center's 2018 Annual Luncheon Reception. The reception was centered around tactical urbanism and include a brief presentation from Luncheon keynote speaker Mike Lydon, an internationally recognized planner, writer, speaker, and advocate for livable cities.

The Civic Design Center installed the project prior to the start of the event with assistance from neighborhood volunteers as needed. The crosswalk included artistic components, including two large “light bulbs” to illuminate the crosswalk and draw attention from passing cars to promote safer speeds.

TURBO's crosswalk featured brand-new modular curb extensions, with large artistic "lightbulbs" and projected lights to enhance the safety and visibility of the crosswalk. Leading into the crosswalk will be an abstract mural on the plaza space next to Diskin. Using cornstarch, water, and food coloring, TURBO volunteers will be installing the mural to add an artistic flair to the reception guests' experience while showing the power that mural's can have towards creative placemaking.

Learn more about the Civic Design Center’s Tactical Urbanism Organizers.

WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON PLACEMAKING