Want Strangers to Trust Each Other? Paint Crosswalks in Rainbows

People say they're more confident that their lost wallets would be returned or that they would meet a friend on a corner that had a rainbow-painted crosswalk.

1 minute read

August 28, 2017, 11:00 AM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


Vancouver, British Columbia

Anita Hart / Flickr

Charles Montgomery, author of Happy City and head of a consultancy with the same name, wanted to look into the way environments influence trust, isolation, and attitudes toward strangers. In researching these social topics, Montgomery led a study that involved a hundred participants, gauging their reactions to different locations in Vancouver. They were particularly struck by the response their subjects had to a corner with a rainbow crosswalk.

These crosswalks are a feature of Vancouver's Davie Village neighborhood. "[I]n 2012 the city’s road crews painted over the four standard zebra crosswalks at an intersection in the heart of the village with fat, bright, rainbow-colored bands. The move was so popular that they made the change permanent the following year and turned an adjoining side street into a rainbow-flecked public plaza," Montgomery writes for Quartz.

The study included a number of tests and questions: "We used games to test concentration and generosity. But people’s answers to standard survey questions told the most powerful story: They showed that the city’s tactical interventions made a huge difference to people’s feelings and attitudes," Montgomery reports.

Monday, August 21, 2017 in Quartz

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Concrete Brutalism building with slanted walls and light visible through an atrium.

What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities

How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.

February 28, 2025 - Justin Hollander

Complete Street

‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge

Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.

February 27, 2025 - Streetsblog USA

Aerial view of single-family homes with swimming pools in San Diego, California.

San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule

The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.

March 9, 2025 - Axios

Cars driving on the American Legion Bridge in Maryland

U.S. Miles Driven Rose by 1 Percent in 2024

Americans drove a total of 3.279 trillion miles in 2024, but per capita VMT stayed the same.

March 10 - Eno Center for Transportation

An adult man, stopped on a Seattle, Washington street corner, preparing for a rainy morning bike commute.

Seattle Recorded Zero Bike Deaths in 2024, per Early Data

The city halved the number of pedestrian deaths compared to 2021.

March 10 - Seattle Bike Blog

Close-up of green ULEZ sign in London, UK.

Study: London ULEZ Rapidly Cleaning up Air Pollution

Expanding the city’s ultra low-emission zone has resulted in dramatic drops in particle emissions in inner and outer London.

March 10 - Smart Cities World