As part of the UK government’s Streetspace for London initiative, Lewisham Council had suspended the parking along the north side of Staplehurst Road in order to facilitate more social distancing,

The project -- called “The Arc” -- is Spin’s second collaboration with Joel De Mowbray, who runs Yes Make, a community-focused urban design shop. “The Arc” is also Lewisham’s first parklet, a small park that replaces underutilized streets space -- in this case, the nine parking spaces -- and turns them into an inviting outdoor seating area where people can safely socially distance while enjoying food and drink from one the numerous nearby restaurants or cafes.

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In order to support physical distancing efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, Spin partnered with Joel De Mowbray from Yes Make — a community-focused urban design shop — and Dennis Boateng, who runs an upcycling furniture shop called InUse-ReUse, to use old wooden pallets to expand the pavement and create more vibrant street space for people along Atlantic Road in the famous Brixton Market.

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As city officials adapt streets to address the many changes brought on by COVID-19, Spin is committed to supporting local streets initiatives that allow for all communities to utilize space to walk, bike, roll, and play.

That’s why Spin partnered with NYC Streetlab to help with the Play Streets initiative, through which the City closed down neighborhood roadways to cars to create safe places for children to exercise and play while still being able to maintain physical distancing necessary to prevent the spread of COVD-19.

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To celebrate Park(ing) Day 2019, we teamed up with Better Block Foundation and the Denver Streets Partnership to sponsor the first-ever international parklet design competition. The event culminated in September on Park(ing) Day when, with the help of Spin and our partners, the six finalists built their designs in parking spaces in Downtown Denver. All of the designs included micromobility parking in addition to seating, shading, and other improvements to the parking spaces. What’s more, one of the finalists returned home to Kansas City to find their City Council so excited about the idea of parklets that they recently changed the law to make it easier for these projects to happen.

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Spin is partnering with Populus, StreetLight Data, Strava Metro, Gehl and Urban Footprint to share data and tools with advocates to make streets safer. Participants in the 2020 program include: BikeWalkNC, Sustain Charlotte, Bike Cleveland, Walk Bike Nashville, Bike Utah and Bike Walk Provo and Denver Streets Partnership.

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Spin’s “Build A Better Barrier Challenge” solicited innovative ideas and concepts that could enable cities to make their streets safer and more accessible for modes of transportation that have not been historically prioritized.

After receiving entries from designers across the country, the contest judges have awarded the 1st place prize to Caressa Givens, a long time transportation advocate from the Wisconsin Bike Federation, and Arthur Talayko, a Milwaukee-based designer. Their design, called “WeClaim,” proposes a mobility lane divider made from reclaimed tires and filled with plants and grasses.

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