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Sidewalk Dinette

Concept Origin: MDID partnered with the University of Minnesota College of Design to create a pop-up Streetscape Lab for two undergraduate design courses in Summer 2014. The Tactical Urbanism Advisory Committee met with instructors and students, shared information about public space challenges downtown, and worked with them on prototypes to address those challenges.

Why It Matters: For one student, Terry Caploe, the challenge he focused on was the lack of places for people to eat lunch outside. In the height of summer, many people choose to spend time outside in their lunch break, but there are relatively few places conducive to sitting and eating a to-go meal outside in the downtown core. The presence of people enjoying warmer weather adds vibrancy downtown. 

Experiment: This student project created a place for outdoor dining on a relatively narrow downtown sidewalk. It was actively used without incident for two weeks.