When Calgarians hear the phrase “tactical urbanism,” bright pink benches and pop-up planters might not be the first image that comes to mind.

But for Next Calgary, tactical urbanism is all about finding ways to make small, low-cost, and impactful changes to public spaces.

The bright pink colour only serves to highlight areas that need a little more attention from the city.

“The idea is to come in and introduce benches that we can make out of pallet wood for a low cost, or to bring in planters that we can make out of pallet wood and found objects, just to show that these places can become beautiful,” said Becky Poschmann, project lead for the tactical urbanism team at Next Calgary.

The benches and planters are meant to be temporary for a season, at most. Yet, at the cost of $10 for a bench—including pink paint—it offers up an opportunity for Calgarians to experiment with their park spaces.

“It just shows the city that if you can install a bench for X number of dollars, it’s going to get used. This is what’s missing in that space for people to truly enjoy these public green spaces that we have,” said Poschmann.

She said that a permanent bench meant to last for more than the summer, costs the City of Calgary around $5,000 to install.