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Apr 20, 2011

"Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. " --Schultz

72 Hours to Transform Your City

A hundred designers, 10 urban challenges, very little money, and no sleep. That's the recipe for 72 Hour Urban Action, a three-day marathon for designers to improve their city. Founder Kerem Halbrecht first debuted the concept at the Bat-Yam Biennale of Landscape Urbanism in Israel in September, where 120 participants working in 10 teams got three days and three nights to solve problems in public spaces. "I wanted to challenge the common perception that creating change in public space is long and difficult, and to see if public space can respond to changing needs in real time." By all accounts, the first 72 Hour Urban Action was brutal but exhilarating. The competitors slept (when they did sleep) in an empty school, and had to split a paltry $2,500 budget between all the teams. They did, however, have a truck and tractor for everyone to share. And cute orange jumpsuits.