Intersection Repair (10:42)
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Ever dreamed of making the streets outside your abode more livable, pedestrian-friendly, and community-oriented?
City Repair in Portland, Oregon hosts an annual Village Building Convergence where hundreds of people come together to build diverse projects for the benefit of their communites and to take back their streets via a process known as the Intersection Repair.
This involves painting streets with a high-visiblity mural that creates a public square for residents to gather and one which gently encourages drivers to slow down when approaching these spaces. Over time the neighbors further enhance the transformation by adding amenities like benches, community bulletin boards, and introducing gardens & art. As you’ll see, the possibilites are endless.
StreetFilms visited three of the Intersection Repairs and spoke with Mark Lakeman co-founder of City Repair, Greg Raisman, the Portland DOT Liason, and scores of residents & volunteers about why they were doing it.
| Produced by: | Clarence Eckerson Jr. |
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| Categories: | Children, Best Practices, Portland, Ore., Traffic Calming, Street Art/Theater, Livable Streets, Pedestrian Safety, Quality of Life, streetfilms |
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I want this in my neighborhood right now!!
Comment by Barbara — May 30, 2007 @ 10:52 am | Link
A wonderfully inspirational, visionary and moving peice. The conversion of intersections to communal plazas is simple yet brilliant. Kudos to the folks in Portland and to Clarence for sharing the images with us NYC dwellers.
Comment by adam white — May 30, 2007 @ 11:46 am | Link
Inspired film Clarence - Sweet Street & People - Intersection Insurrection Reclaiming the Street in style.
Comment by Andy — May 30, 2007 @ 12:21 pm | Link
A truly amazing video! Thanks for making it.
There is definitely a “Eugene” vibe (a good thing in my book) but each neighborhood had it’s own feel. As this concept takes off it will be interesting to see the different flavors particular neighborhoods bring.
Comment by Dan Kaufman — May 30, 2007 @ 12:35 pm | Link
What a wonderful effort in making this video, it really captures the experience of being in Portland during the Village Building Convergence! Great, great work!
Mark
Comment by Mark Lakeman — May 30, 2007 @ 4:15 pm | Link
Have you ever dreamed of making the streets outside your home more livable, pedestrian-friendly, and community-oriented? […]
Pingback by Streetsblog — May 31, 2007 @ 7:55 am | Link
Clarence, sweet!
Thank you so much for sharing some of what makes Portland such an invigorating place to LIVE. While watching, I felt engaged, inspired, and hopeful that these seeds of peace that are being cast-out will sprout all over the world!
Comment by raku — May 31, 2007 @ 1:26 pm | Link
Great job, Clarence! It was so exciting to have you filming our efforts at the Freda’s Tree intersection, and I hope our project will continue to inspire others.
Comment by Linda — June 1, 2007 @ 2:07 pm | Link
Thanks, Clarence—It’s so exciting to see our little neighborhood project captured so well and shared with like-minded folks. Great work!
Comment by Andree — June 1, 2007 @ 2:51 pm | Link
Clarence, what an outstanding job you did in 4 days! And it was up just days after the VBC ended! Next up should be Clarence: The Movie-Making-Maniac-Sasquatch (Sassie sits at a computer as his furry hands blaze across the keyboard in a blur…yes folks, it’s a rare sighting of the movie-making-maniac!)
Yesterday, after some mild culture shock transitioning from the streets, stories, and hugs of the VBC to the bluetoothed, laptopped, mean airport, I left Portland. As soon as I got home, I watched this. It made me so happy to be transported back there! You really did a great job of capturing the spirit of joy and optimistic energy that is the VBC. Thanks so much for your hard work and even more for sharing it with all of us.
I had planned to take a few days off to rest, but your film has so inspired me that now I just want to get to work. Great work Clarence! Really, you’re awesome. Whose streets? Our streets!
Comment by Chris Marco — June 1, 2007 @ 3:22 pm | Link
My nabe in Queens could use some of these. I am already friends with my neighbors. We could do this!
Once we had a tag sale on every corner of our intersection.
Comment by Darla — June 1, 2007 @ 3:50 pm | Link
Thank you so much everyone here who posted (and those who emailed too.)
I have been very touched by the highly emotional feedback I have gotten. I was moved very much when putting this together, and am so glad that many others were equally so. Please keep the comments coming….
Comment by Clarence — June 1, 2007 @ 3:57 pm | Link
Clarence, what a great job you did and so quickly! You captured the spirit of the people and place so well, it moved me to tears - especially seeing Lyn and John. Ah, VBC…I miss it so much already and can’t wait for VBC8 (and Chris’ film, too). Thank you, thank you!
Comment by Sue B. — June 2, 2007 @ 4:12 am | Link
wow, clarence– super job! we are totally impressed with how you plugged right into what we are doing here in portland, shot some film, and edited it into this real beautiful, on-point, inspiring film.
EVERYONE in the world knows– when they search the deepest places of their heart–that the time has come to re-connect to ourselves, to each other, and to our common source of creation. who would have thought that we are the revolution embodied?! thanks for sharing our process of becoming in portland.
what’s next?!
Comment by pedro, adri, and santiago — June 2, 2007 @ 3:18 pm | Link
Bravo Clarence, brilliant! I got a lump in my throat watching, it is so inspiring. Great for traffic safety, great for community, great for place. If only NYC would follow suit.
Comment by Shirley — June 3, 2007 @ 12:37 pm | Link
Great video! I would love to see this idea spread to cities everywhere.
Comment by Dustin — June 5, 2007 @ 2:20 am | Link
[…] on-street, community-based traffic-calming installation somewhat similar to projects undertaken by City Repair in Portland, Oregon. […]
Pingback by Streetsblog » Kids Demand Respect in the Streets of Brooklyn — July 20, 2007 @ 11:06 am | Link
[…] favorites Copenhagen, Curitiba, London, and Bogotá all made the grade. StreetFilms’ posterchild Portland captured the number two spot right behind geothermal-powered Reykjavik, Iceland. San Francisco and […]
Pingback by Streetsblog » Grist: NYC is Not One of the World’s Greenest Cities — August 3, 2007 @ 10:34 am | Link
[…] involves painting streets with a high-visiblity mural that creates a public square for residents to gather and one which gently encourages drivers to slow down when approaching these […]
Pingback by Intersection Repair | Urban Planning Blog — August 16, 2007 @ 9:35 am | Link
Great video. Tried embedding on my Urban Planning Blog but somehow didn’t work. Would be great if you could upload your videos to YouTube as well. Might get more ‘eyeballs’ and will spread the word.
Comment by Pratik — August 16, 2007 @ 9:38 am | Link
Pratik,
Might just do that for a few of our videos. We have in the past but haven’t put up many since the begining of the year.
Thanks.
Comment by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. — August 19, 2007 @ 1:37 pm | Link
Intersection Repair……
Everyone has that one intersection in their neighborhood that could just be so much better. For whatever reason, the cars seem to drive through too fast, the crosswalks are non-existent, or there is no place to comfortably sit and wait…
Trackback by metro(spokane) — August 28, 2007 @ 1:48 am | Link
There is the perfect neighborhood for this in my city! I love the whole idea! Great!
Comment by Joyce — August 29, 2007 @ 10:32 am | Link
This would do best to go out to every Chamber of Commerce across the nation..God Bless America!!
Comment by Stan — September 23, 2007 @ 9:27 pm | Link
Does everyone see the wonderful ‘intersection’ of Ciclovia, a regular Sunday streets for the people event, and intersection repair? The communities hosting Ciclovia can leave a permanent symbol of their welcome all week as well as on Sunday! You are on to something big here.
Comment by Greg Cantori — April 15, 2008 @ 10:33 am | Link
[…] intersection repair […]
Pingback by my humps my humps my humps… « andrea’s weblog — April 19, 2008 @ 8:42 pm | Link