Tactical urbanism sounds like military terminology, but it is actually a design movement that’s been occurring in Little Rock for the past three years. The movement involves an ambush makeover for a community. Bike lanes, tree-lined medians, additional public transit routes and vendors and restaurants housed in once-vacant storefronts appear overnight. Then just as quickly, usually over a weekend, they vanish. These temporary makeovers, known locally as Pop Up in the Rock, aim to show the city how it can implement certain urban design changes to better utilize its existing infrastructure.
The organizations responsible for Pop Up in the Rock are Create Little Rock and StudioMain, a nonprofit collective of members of the local design community. Through StudioMain, architects, designers, developers, contractors, furniture makers and landscape architects, just to name a few, have all come together under one organization to volunteer their time and work toward better urban design in Arkansas.
“We are all competitors during our day job,” says Chris East, president of StudioMain and an architect with Cromwell Architects Engineers, “but we come together because of our passion for design. We want to find a way to work together for the common good of our city.”
Pop Up in the Rock is StudioMain’s most visible project, but it is hardly its only high profile local design endeavor. The organization was influential in luring the Little Rock Technology Park to downtown and is currently working with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to redesign University Avenue and University Village. They are also consulting with developers on the best way to revitalize the Financial Quarter.
“This is where people really see us as a resource,” says StudioMain co-founder and architect with WER Architects/Planners James Meyer. “We can be a sounding board for ideas. Where else can you get 12 architects, all from different firms, together in one room?”
Projects that educate and challenge convention only scratch the surface of what StudioMain hopes to accomplish. The organization has been instrumental in advocating for better urban design practices. Most recently, the group’s efforts include supporting the complete streets ordinance for the city of Little Rock. Complete streets provide multimodal transportation for walkers, bikers, vehicles and public transit. With renewed momentum, the ordinance went before the city board on January 20 and was delayed for 90 days.
“There is significant demand from people who would love to live in a walkable community,” says East. “North Little Rock and Conway both have complete streets policies. We are about 10 years behind.”
East believes there is not yet enough diversity in the downtown residential market and StudioMain hopes demonstrations like Pop Up in the Rock and its Envision Little Rock competition, an open competition for designers to create concepts for neglected downtown landscapes, can serve as an impetus for people to move downtown.
The idea for Pop Up in the Rock came from the Better Block project, with the goal that short-term action in a community can lead to permanent change.
Some of these provisional changes are becoming permanent. South on Main used the inaugural Pop Up in the Rock in 2012 to test its Southern gourmet restaurant concept on the local community before opening its doors on Main Street. There has also been an overwhelmingly positive response to the demonstrations from business owners, residents and city leaders who can realize the full potential of these communities.
“With Pop Up in the Rock, people can instantly visualize what we are talking about,” says East. “They see how it would work.”
StudioMain hopes once people see the potential, they will serve as advocates for implementing these changes in their communities. The 2015 Pop Up in the Rock will be held this fall on Ninth Street between State and Broadway. This demonstration will be unique because it will not only be showcasing better ways to utilize the available infrastructure, but it will also be highlighting the historical significance of the area. Once a popular African American community, this area was devastated by urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s and has yet to return to its prime.
“This is a significant part of town that has been forgotten,” says Meyer. “We hope to celebrate the history of this place and will be doing a series of interventions talking about what used to be there and what could be there in the future.”
Education is a major objective for StudioMain, which evolved after opening its doors in 2011 as a location for the University of Arkansas’ Fay Jones School of Architecture to offer design classes in Little Rock. The group wanted to offer the space up to the community when students were not in class. Now open to the public, StudioMain has an office and exhibit space located at 1423 South Main Street offering design outreach.
For a city the size of Little Rock, StudioMain is a unique organization combining services that usually exist under several organizations.
“We’ve taken public interest design services that we’ve seen in other cities that were working that we were lacking here in Little Rock and housed them all under one roof,” says Meyer.
Moving forward, StudioMain hopes to expand its reach statewide. Having assisted with pop up events in Hot Springs, Jonesboro and Rogers, the organization hopes to reach out to more rural parts of the state, specifically the Delta region, and offer its design services. For a young organization, the demand for its services has been high. The challenge for its members now seems to be balancing the workload with their day jobs.