WHO: Can Do! Signs, A Knight Cities Challenge Winner
WHAT: Kick Off Event (Bike Ride and Celebration): A 12-mile, 2 hour bike ride that visits 6 of the 11 Can Do! sign locations in Charlotte. Join us on this fun ride to celebrate some of our Can Do Signs and see what activites we “can do” along the way.
WHERE: Blue Blaze Brewing (528 S. Turner Ave., Charlotte, NC 28208)
WHEN: Events scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2017
- Bike Ride (10am – 12pm) – meet at Blue Blaze Brewing. If participants want to ride but don’t have a bike they can contact Sarah Hazel at shazel@charlottenc.gov and one will be reserved.
- Celebration Party (12pm) – You don’t need to ride to celebrate! Refreshments will be provided.
WHY: Public spaces are typically designed as places where people can come together and do the things that they enjoy, in public. However, signage generally lists prohibited activities. No trespassing after dusk. No feeding the geese. No. No. No! These negative messages can have a disheartening effect.
The goal of this project is to flip the typical usage of signs. Instead, this project will ask the community what they want to do, and create signs that give users of public space amusing, enchanting and fun options. You can dance! You can sing! You can skip! You can hold hands! Etc.
The big questions we seek to test with our project is: How might we brighten someone’s day by encouraging positive behaviors in an unexpected and memorable way, and bring together people and government?
The project is run out of the Urban Design team in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department. We have crafted and sculpted the messages through online engagement. When people see the first sign messages about what they “can do”, the sign will have a hashtag (#CanDoSigns) and ask people to share what they love to do in that space and take pictures of it and send. The act of sharing what they love will add to the positive framing of our public space, and it is a type of feedback not typically solicited by the City. Visitors and Charlotteans will pause, engage with the signs, and use them as invitations and permission to enjoy their public spaces!
(Can Do Sign located on the Charlotte Rail Trail)
The City of Charlotte provides services to more than 800,000 residents. The City’s focus areas are Community Safety, Housing and Neighborhood Development, Economic Development, Environment and Transportation & Planning. For the latest news about city government, visit the Citywide Newsroom From our website, you can sign up to receive email updates on City topics that interest you through the Notify Me service.
The Knight Cities Challenge seeks new ideas that make the 26 communities where Knight invests more vibrant places to live and work. The challenge is offering a share of up to $5 million for innovative projects that answer the question: What’s your best idea to make cities more successful?
The challenge is open to innovators of all types: architects, activists, artists, city planners, entrepreneurs, students, educators, city officials, as well as governments and organizations.