2021–ongoing
Unauthorized interactive installation
Altered pedestrian safety flags (permanent marker on vinyl)

Proposals for Safer Communities shows how the politics and aesthetics of Madison’s pedestrian safety flag program place the burden of community safety on individual action — a theme with renewed resonance during the COVID-19 crisis, when this project began in 2021. By adding messages to Madison’s pedestrian flags, each street crossing becomes a protest. Walkers can reassert the shared responsibility for their safety. Walkers can reinscribe the connections among dangers — not just vehicle strikes but also pollution and climate change.

Waving a flag can be an act of surrender or a rallying cry. Proposals for Safer Communities seeks to make walkers visible in a new way, not as vulnerable individuals but as members of the multitude.

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Proposals for Safer Communities is documented in Walkabout Volume 2, Issue 4.