The Bottom-Up Revolution How To Convince Your City To Embrace Tactical Urbanism
Oct 28, 2025
Isaac Gonzalez, founder of Slow Down Sacramento, talks about how he transformed Sacramento's approach to street safety and tactical urbanism. After a tragic accident motivated him to act, he leveraged quick-build strategies to create safer environments. Isaac emphasizes the importance of community advocacy and persistent education, showing how to turn action into impactful policy. His message is clear: stop waiting, start acting, and lead by example in your own community.
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Catalyst Of A Neighborhood Tragedy
- A parent was killed outside Isaac Gonzalez's son's school and that catalyzed Slow Down Sacramento's launch.
- Within two years the group helped shift Sacramento to adopt tactical urbanism policy and hire staff with a $2M budget.
Pilots Change City Risk Culture
- Tactical urbanism can change risk-averse city cultures by demonstrating low-cost successful pilots.
- Sacramento moved from rejecting innovations to adopting quick-build policy after consistent advocacy.
Built Environment Is The Root Condition
- Quick build treats the built environment as the condition that causes crashes and can be changed immediately.
- Temporary, observable changes guide whether to make solutions permanent or iterate further.