“If you’ve taken public transport in America, you are familiar with this type of stop: a single pole in a grassy lot, no shade, no sitting,” begins a video recently posted to the Better Block Instagram page. “Quite frankly, we hate it.”
Employees of the Oak Cliff-based urban design nonprofit disliked the unfurnished bus stops around town so much, in fact, that they decided to build, paint and install benches at transit stops across the city last week.
Patterns for the benches came from Better Block’s Wikiblock library, an open-source library of cut files that can be accessed on Better Block’s website and built by anyone with a CNC cutter and plywood. Last year, architectural designer for Better Block Draven Pointer told the Advocate that Wikiblock furniture fits together like a puzzle, and assembly does not require glue, screws or nails.
The social media video showed a dozen benches being placed at bus stops around Dallas that did not have seating or covering. Many of the benches were themed, including the “Saved by the Bench” piece pictured above.
“I noticed coming from the zoo and I see the difference, and I said, ‘That is so nice and beautiful,'” one DART bus driver said of the new benches.
The organization said they were inspired by Fred Kent, who advocates for public spaces and placemaking and believes small community investments can spark change.
“We build for love, not for fear,” Krista Nightengale, Better Block’s executive director, told us for a January 2023 article. She added, “I don’t feel like anything we do is all that innovative or … terribly creative. It’s really just creating spaces (where) people want to bump into one another.”
