Why Urban Design Changes Behavior More Than We Expect

How small, street-level changes can shift behavior, expectations, and what feels possible.

In a recent post about dog pee hurting street trees in NYC, I described a small urban design experiment that changed behavior on my block almost overnight. This essay is going to take a step back to ask a bigger question: can small physical changes make a larger social impact than their size would suggest?

Leverage Points and Why Physical Design Is Usually Overlooked

We all want to find places where small changes produce large effects. Donella Meadows called those places “leverage points.” In her essay Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System,¹ she ranked where interventions can have the most impact.

At the top of her list is something with an intimidating name: paradigm-level shifts. A paradigm shift is a term for when the model we use to think about the world changes because we realize it no longer applies. This just means the story we quietly assume about how the world works changes. If you’re familiar with paradigm shifts, you might think of scientific revolutions², but paradigms also shape everyday civic life. Ideas like “parking is sacred,” “government can’t do big things well,” and “dogs are urban nuisances” are stories we absorb simply by engaging with the world as it is set up. In the pandemic, outdoor dining disrupted one of these stories by making a different use of curb space suddenly feel normal. To Meadows, these stories are the deepest leverage points in the system because usually when we find a mismatch between what we believe and how we act, we try to fix it. If paradigms shape behavior at the deepest level, the question becomes: how do they change?

These shifts are not always easy to come by, which is why I’m interested in something much lower on her list: the physical infrastructure of the world. She says that, “physical structure is crucial in a system, but rarely a leverage point, because changing it is rarely quick or simple.” New Yorkers definitely know that physical changes are often neither quick nor simple. After all, it’s been 50 years and we’re still waiting for the Second Avenue Subway to be done. However, some structures are easier to change than we assume, and some of these small changes punch above their weight because they change our expectations. This is not to say that all urban design will change society, but certain small physical changes can subtly reshape what feels possible. The dog pee station is a very small example; outdoor dining is a large one.

How Physical Infrastructure Changes What Feels Possible

New Yorkers will intuitively know that physical infrastructure affects the paradigm. I know that when I leave NYC, and have to get into a car to get literally anywhere that I’m surprised people there view it as normal. I know they feel surprised when they come here and realize our default is the subway. Whether it’s the subway or a highway, physical infrastructure mediates our relationship with our city. The subway doesn’t just change how we get around, it changes the story we tell ourselves about society.

It’s easy to get caught up thinking of urban design as Robert Moses-era highways destroying communities, but it is also Paseo Park in Queens, school street programs, public bathrooms, and the DOT “summer streets.” Each of these smaller scale NYC programs change what we expect from public space. Those of us who witnessed Outdoor Dining know that these shifts don’t just change how we think, they change how we will act and design in the future.

What Makes an Urban Design Change a True Leverage Point

If we can find urban design interventions that people don’t have strong opinions about, are relatively cheap and quick to implement, actually change behavior, and do so in a way that take on a life of their own, we can shift the paradigm. These are changes that are small enough to implement but big enough to change what we think is possible. When infrastructure makes a behavior easy and visible, it becomes normal. When it becomes normal, what feels possible starts to shift. Once what feels possible shifts, other changes start to compound (I’ll explore that idea more in a future piece.)

A Small Example: Redirecting Dog Behavior

One example of this dynamic appeared on my block. Providing dogs a clear place to pee redirected them away from trees almost immediately. Something as simple as a sign that said “your dog can pee here!”, putting down some fake grass and adding a fake fire hydrant changed how a whole block of dog walkers behaved. Because of its visibility and behavior changing nature, even a small win like this can subtly change what we think local government is capable of. This intervention fits our criteria. It is visible, organically invites behavior change, becomes natural very quickly, and tells a new story about the role of government and public space in our city. In a future post, I’ll walk through what it would actually take to design and pilot an intervention like this in NYC.

So, if you’re looking for leverage, don’t just look at federal policy or elections. Look around you for small, visible interventions that alter what feels possible. As we’ve seen, they might change more than we expect.

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As I post more I will flesh out proposals I have that I think fit this framework. If you have any ideas let me know and let’s talk!

1. For more on “Leverage Points”:

2. For mode on “Paradigm Shifts”: