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ArchDC Spring 2018.qxp_Fall 2017 2/22/18 9:16 AM Page 78

The Walkway. Photo © John Keith Photography
The spatial compression experienced as the visitor The installation counted nearly 5,000 visitors over
walked further into the tunnel was amplified by the aural three months in 2017. The structure was taken down, but
environment, with speakers broadcasting street sounds, lives on in the digital space (at wlkway.com). More than
from friendly greetings to hostile sounds like whistles, 350 visitors submitted digital survey responses, and 100
catcalls, and insults. “The ambience of street life was part personal stories of street harassment were submitted to
of the audible section of the project,” Mosquera said. the digital archive.
MMD’s design incorporated a digital interactive For the city, this foray into temporal placemaking
component as well. “We saw the project as a physical and and digital storytelling was a worthwhile experiment.
literal portal to what was being amassed in the digital Street safety is not just about avoiding collisions with
realm by the people who came to visit the space,” said cars, but also about improving pedestrians’ sense of
Marshall. “We wanted to make it easy to use it, pass personal security.
through it, interact with it.” “The street harassment [and] public art angle was
Chrys Sbily, MMD marketing director, said, “What really outside of the box, in terms of traditional
was so inspiring about [The Walkway] was that people approaches to traffic safety, but it was an idea that came
were so excited to tell their own stories about experiences from a group of voices that is traditionally marginalized
in public spaces. What is flattering to one person is in the engineering and traffic operations world. Namely,
incredibly disturbing to another person. We were surprised women, the LGBTQ community, and people of color,”
at how much attention it garnered. This was a year before said DDOT’s Rogers. “Equity is a top goal for Vision Zero
the ‘Me Too’ movement took off.” efforts, and this was a solid step in the right direction.”

78 MAKING ROOM FOR ART