HCP #053 - Krista Nightengale: Tactical Urbanism, Neighborhood Joy, and Building Better Blocks

Krista Nightengale, Executive Director of Better Block, joins the Hidden City for a wide-ranging conversation about the messy, creative, and community-driven work of tactical urbanism. From her early days covering Dallas neighborhoods as a journalist to helping launch the Coalition for a New Dallas and stepping into Better Block’s full-time team in 2016, Krista shares how temporary installations have sparked lasting change in cities around the world.We talk about why Better Block works—120-day timelines, “what-if” testing, color as a crime-prevention tool, and the collaborative chaos of building public space with neighbors, kids, skeptics, and sometimes even unexpected advocates. Krista reflects on projects from Oak Cliff to Australia to South Dallas’s MLK Food Park, and how small interventions can shift mindsets, restore trust, and show communities what’s possible on their own blocks.