Better Block FTL brought the crowds, proves street life improvment is only a group effort away

Fort Lauderdale art venues, creative industries, artists and retailers joined the Better Block effort Saturday, June 16, 2012 to demonstrate that small improvements in design and access can greatly affect our urban areas.  The streets of downtown’s art district – FAT Village – were transformed into a pedestrian/bicycle/car/dog-friendly utopia with the help of pop-up businesses, urban landscaping improvements, art installations, and mobile food vendors.

The Girls’ Club video installation, Uneasy Screens, engaged Better Block’s streets and social areas with looped videos by Kate Gilmore,

Ann Hamilton and Dinorah de Jesus Rodriguez. Each video indirectly addressed private anxieties, forcing social acceptability that offers cathartic episodes that humanize us.

The temporary experiment proved there IS a way to have it all, for all. Hopefully will be seeing these simple improvements come to fruition all over Fort Lauderdale and beyond!

Photos + Galleries

• Girls’ Club Facebook page
• Salty Eggs web gallery
• Sun Sentinel web gallery
• Broward / Palm Beach New Times, event gallery

Related Links + Articles

• The Examiner
• Sun Sentinel: Fort Lauderdale warehouse block emerges as happening destination
• Salty Eggs: Build a Better Block Plans Pedestrian-Friendly Makeover for FAT Village’s First Avenue