Streets are an open and common space being reclaimed by people of all ages, in all kinds of weather, at all times of day and night for purposes never envisioned by planners and designers nor permitted by politicians. Streets are being used in creative ways to individually and collectively express opinion about issues relevant to life on this planet. Whether eluding control as an anarchistic act, or asserting control by occupying the street, the street is again a common symbolic space that facilitates confrontation as Mouffe argues, but more importantly, creativity. Declared or not, temporary autonomous zones and temporary autonomous spaces are visibly holding space on the street, demonstrating many long-forgotten purposes for the street. This paper is a visual exploration of recent front-line experiences on the street and in street events that occurred primarily in Montreal, Vancouver, Paris, Berlin, and London, UK between 2011 and 2014.
