Op-Ed: Urban Design Should Mind the Line Between 'Cute' and 'Safe'

Sarah Goodyear calls out the trend of designers and artists incorporating fun and interactive play amenities into the urban streetscape. Things like musical swings at bus stops, trashcans with sound effects, and interactive, dancing crosswalk signals.

"At first glance, there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of this. Who could be against a little fun, after all? I used to think such projects were at least kind of cool. But the more of these cutesy campaigns and 'design solutions' I see, the more they strike me as sickly sweet, and often dangerously beside the point."

Goodyear adds: "broadly, the focus on expensive and often impractical 'playful' solutions that can’t be scaled up diverts designers’ and planners’ attention from the real challenges at hand. City-dwellers don’t need garbage cans with sound effects, they need more garbage cans, and more frequent trash pickup. Regular bus commuters don’t need swings, they need shelter from the elements and reliable information about bus arrival time. Pedestrians don’t need to play games at the crosswalk, they need shorter crossing distances, longer walk signals, and better separation from cars."