Against a de-politicized DIY urbanism: Food Not Bombs and the struggle over public space

Abstract

Cultivated by non-professionals, do-it-yourself (DIY) interventions in urban space are gaining serious credibility in the professional design fields. But as these professionals take up the flag of small-scale and social justice-inspired action in design handbooks and art exhibits, what happens to the struggles that informed the tactics? This article presents the DIY urban tactics of Food Not Bombs as a counter case study that problematizes the recent professional attention given to DIY, tactical or spontaneous urbanism. Forged in a struggle against the structural violence of capitalism, and based in the use of public space for community meals, Food Not Bombs challenges de-politicized notions of tactical or DIY urbanism.

Keywords:

• DIY urbanism
• tactical urbanism
• urban politics
• Food Not Bombs
• public space
• social movements

Notes

1. While conducting fieldwork for a research project on mutual aid politics in New York City, I conducted 35 interviews with individuals involved in three different community-based projects over the course of a 12-month period from December 2011 to November 2012. Bed Stuy FNB was one of the three projects. The quotations and observations in this section come from data collected during the larger study.

2. Although FNB and other groups contributed to delegitimizing Frank Jordan’s administration, the criminalization of homeless people continued after Jordan left office. “After the Matrix program was closed down by the [then] Mayor Willie Brown, criminalization of the homeless proceeded unabated” (Wright 1999, 27). The victory against the Matrix program was substantial but ultimately ephemeral. As a result, FNB continued to maintain a visible presence in San Francisco.