ABSTRACT
Residents of West Oakland, California, build benches outside their homes and businesses. By creating and using these sidewalk living rooms, they become a visible part of the neighborhood, staking claim to the space. Neighbors in Portland, Oregon, turn a street intersection into a painted plaza with community facilities-a bulletin board, a tea stand, and a community library-on the corners. By collectively designing and using the space, they build relationships with each other as well as with the place. In several small towns in Mid-America, residents plan and execute Main Street murals. By expressing their shared past and their future hopes through the murals, they help redefine the community’s identity.
