Temporary Urbanism in a Public Park: The Case of Postman Square, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Postman Square is a 1361 ft2 triangular-shaped park in downtown Milwaukee. It contains a statue that was dedicated in 1989 to commemorate the establishment of the National Association of Letter Carriers in 1889, founded in a meeting hall close to the park. This pocket park has generally gone unnoticed and unused because it is so small and dwarfed by the three streets that surround it. With permanent park improvements planned by the City of Milwaukee, NEWaukee, a social architecture organisation, was permitted to undertake a temporary urbanism experiment. NEWaukee’s website defines social architecture as conscious design of an environment to encourage desired social behaviours associated with how people work, live, and play, with the goal of better public spaces and cities. NEWaukee used volunteers and lighter, quicker, cheaper interventions to temporarily transform the park. The goal was to encourage community engagement in this space and gain insights into people’s use of the park before its upgrade. The bright blue furniture and a letterbox for people’s love letters to Milwaukee attracted attention, but community reactions were mixed. This case study investigates NEWaukee’s temporary urbanism in Postman Square, while problematising it within the context of the theoretical and empirical literature.