How Right-of-Way Adaptations Support Urban Resilience: Pandemic Streateries and Social Interactions in Seattle’s University District

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings: We investigated how ad hoc pandemic adaptations of street space align with longstanding municipal policies to promote public life in the right-of-way (ROW). In response to COVID-19, cities permitted temporary modifications of street spaces, allowing indoor activities to move outdoors to prevent disease transmission. Streateries (street eateries) enabled restaurants to operate despite restrictions on indoor uses. Many streateries persisted after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, prompting the question of what other functions these adaptive forms serve and how else these spaces contribute to the vitality of cities, including disaster risk reduction but also increased social connectivity and small business viability. By modifying and supplementing Seattle’s (WA) Public Life Study protocol to observe and analyze streatery and sidewalk use, we found that besides supporting business continuity in a major disruption, streateries and parklets increased low-intensity social interactions, chance encounters, and diversity of activities in the ROW, outcomes that correlate with increased social resilience. As a result of this study, Seattle adopted chance encounter as a standard metric in its protocol. Findings also provide practical guidance for tactical placemaking, including the design of streateries and other ROW interventions. Takeaway for practice: Governments and business advocates can integrate the enhancement of adaptability and resilience in the face of disruptions with the improvement of everyday public life and vitality in public space. Research and programs that promote these goals by assessing emergent adaptive ROW uses and interventions should include more nuanced measures of social interaction, including diversity, intensity, and chance occurrence.