Why activists turned this busted sidewalk into a flourishing garden

Tactical urbanism, whereby citizens set out to improve public spaces using temporary or low-cost interventions, often involves activities like painting a crosswalk or marking a DIY bike lane with flower pots. But one urban activism group in Sofia, Bulgaria, recently turned to a much more unconventional tool: humor. And also leeks, which they planted on a sidewalk in the very heart of the city.



[Photo: courtesy Spasi Sofia]



That the group—a nonprofit called Spasi Sofia (Save Sofia)—was able to plant leeks on the sidewalk at all is the crux of the problem. For years, a 5,000-square-foot stretch of sidewalk in front of the Sveta Nedelya Cathedral has been a minefield of holes caused by wobbly, cracked, broken pavers. After Spasi Sofia’s failed attempt to get the sidewalk repaired in May 2021 (the group enclosed the sidewalk and declared it unfit for use) the tactical urbanists decided it was time for a more performative stunt, or what the organization’s project manager, Stefan Spasov, calls “a provocation.”



[Photo: courtesy Spasi Sofia]



It started on an innocent note. On day one of said provocation, they planted flowers in patches of soil that had revealed themselves in between pavers. But by the end of the day, the municipality had plucked them. On day two, the team came back and planted even more flowers. The municipality plucked those, too.



[Photo: courtesy Spasi Sofia]



The story continued like this for a total of six days. On day three, Spasi Sofia planted a dozen bunches of fully grown spring onions, in a half-serious bid to paint Sofia as the kind of city that could thrive from urban agriculture. “This sidewalk looks like a plowed field waiting to be planted,” Spasov told me over the phone.



On day four, they placed pumpkins (in Bulgarian, the word pumpkin can also be interpreted as “stupid-head”). On day five, they planted leeks (once again playing on a Bulgarian saying, big leek, which suggests the nonchalance of a “nevermind” or a “whatever”). On day six, the municipality enclosed the sidewalk with a construction fence and put up a sign informing citizens that repair works would begin in seven days.



[Photo: courtesy Spasi Sofia]



On the fence, the Spasi Sofia team put up little white flags “to visualize the idea of the surrendering municipality,” Spasov says. Today, about two weeks after the first batch of flowers were planted, the sidewalk is still enclosed, but repairs appear to be nearly finished.



The stunt is reminiscent of an act of public service in Manchester, England, where an anonymous citizen who went by the name of Wanksy got the city to fix a series of broken potholes by drawing chalk penises around them. In both cases, citizens used cheap, easily available tools—and a healthy dose of humor—to embarrass those in charge and spur them to action. “There must be strong public pressure resulting in damage to their reputation to force [elected officials] to do the work they are legally obliged to do,” says Spasov, who is also a transport civil engineer by training.



[Photo: courtesy Spasi Sofia]



In this case, the state of the sidewalk is the direct product of Bulgaria’s corrupt public procurement process, but the predicament highlights a bigger problem in city planning, namely that cities rarely budget for maintenance. “There is no mindset that when something has been built, it needs maintenance,” Spasov says. “There is no mindset that when something is in a bad state, as an emergency it must be brought into condition in which it can be safely used by people.”



Spasov says the municipality has been deferring repairs because the square is due for a complete overhaul, courtesy of Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas, who in 2019 proposed to pedestrianize the square and reveal the Ancient Roman archeological ruins beneath it. But four years in, “nothing is happening and no steps are taken to implement [the design],” says Spasov, citing fears that a car-free square will backfire amid recalcitrant drivers.



If only a bunch of leeks could solve that problem, too.