The Tactical Trail is an action that combines tactical disciplines such as design, urban planning and sociology. From a design perspective, the trail can be understood as part of Way-finding strategies, which have the function of informing people about urban context guiding strategic points in preplanned directions.
From an urbanism and sociology dimension, the Tactical Trail can be understood as tactical planning strategies that combine action with impact measurement, in order to inform long term planning decisions. In order to monitor people’s perceptions and the impact of the Tactical Trail, a strategy to collect a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators is performed, comprising tools such as Tree of Ideas and Tracking methods. These metrics serve both to take the pulse of the intervention, as well as to build a baseline regarding the effectiveness of tactical paths, to assess the replicability and scaling of the initiative.
The implementation of the Tactical Trail prototype serves as an instance to evaluate people behavior and use of pedestrians, traders, visitors and neighbors, through a rapid and cost-efficient collection of valuable inputs in terms of participatory urban design.
* Photo Lang Baumann Architects, Vercorin.
