Public Notice No. 2026-09 · For Immediate Release
Essays, poetry, illustration, comics, maps, and a crossword — from artists and organizers across Atlanta
Contributor stipends were provided for the inaugural issue. Read the full notice ↓
The Department of Public Reimagination (DPRI) was established in 2026 to help Metro Atlantans dream up and create the city they want. If you are someone who believes that a city is the result of our collective imaginations, DPRI is here to serve you.
DPRI coordinates across municipal government departments to clear the red tape for people to reclaim public spaces and solve local problems. Because public imagination is the foundation of play, invention, and change, DPRI strives to make it easy, safe, legal, and fun to create a better city.
Filed under: Public Imagination · Page 1 of 1
You are already engaged in the work of public reimagination. Your paperwork is in order.
There are many names for this: tactical urbanism, urban hacking, creative placemaking. Any time municipal work collides with the creativity of people making the city their own, this is the realm of DPRI.
In a city with aging infrastructure, vacant storefronts, and gentrifying neighborhoods, the region needs our daring imaginations to reuse, renovate, and reorient our shared public spaces.
DPRI's authority begins where yours does: the block you live on. It extends outward through your neighborhood and your city, and it stops nowhere in particular, because imagination doesn't observe boundaries the way zoning does.
Everything inside these rings is fair game for reclaiming, reimagining, and gently reworking. Everything outside them is fair game too. We just haven't drawn that circle yet.
The Spark is the official free newsletter of the Department of Public Reimagination. This September, DPRI published its first issue, featuring folks doing imaginative work to make Atlanta better, alongside stories and art meant to inspire readers to engage as creators in their own civic life.
| Publication | The Spark, Vol. 01, Issue 01, Fall 2026 |
| Method | Risograph printed, in the finest municipal tradition of the mimeograph |
| Price | Free, always |
| Distribution | Five reimagined newsstands across the city |
| Stipend | A small stipend was provided to contributors of the inaugural issue |
| Funding | Nexus grant, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center |
| Published | September 26, 2026 |
DPRI staff and Atlanta artists gathered at the Center for Civic Innovation this September to cut the ribbon on the city's first Spark newsstand.
Photos by David Naugle
The Department is staffed entirely by residents with overactive imaginations. Complete Form DPRI-7 below to receive your official title and identification card. All appointments are effective immediately and last forever.
Notice: Providing an email constitutes enrollment in occasional dispatches from The Spark. No spam, only sparks. Titles are assigned by an impartial civic lottery. Appeals are unlimited and always granted.
The Spark is distributed free at five reimagined newsstands across the city, unveiled this September by the Subcommittee on Newsstand Reimagination.
Pins indicate confirmed locations and are subject to relocation, beautification, and spontaneous acts of neighborly improvement.
Locations to be announced soon
