New parks will be popping up all over the country today, thanks to Park(ing) Day, an annual event that turns paved parking spaces into temporary green gardens. The event was started in 2005 by ReBar, an art collective based in San Francisco, and is meant to challenge urbanites to think about what our public spaces would be like if they were designed for the pedestrian, rather than the car.
Past events have received great responses, and this year promises to be no different with a slew of participating cities and 450 spaces to be transformed. For a full list, see Park(ing) Day sponsor’s website, The Trust for Public Land.
So go check it out!
“By turning parking spaces into instant parks, National Park(ing) Day creatively demonstrates how much our cities need parks. Across America, cities are renewing their investments in parks, because civic leaders have come to recognize that close-to-home parks, gardens, and playgrounds are essential if we are to have cities that aren’t just livable, but lovable.” -Will Rogers, Trust for Public Land president
+ Park(ing) Day 2008
+ ReBAR
+ The Trust for Public Land
Wow! Parking day sounds like a lot of fun. I never heard of it, but Ill have to check it out next time its done in San Francisco.
I still have a love/hate relationship with this. In a city like San Francisco, where there is excellent public transit, I think I would love more than hate. Were I looking for a place to park in my midwestern city with little public transit, I think I’d be pissed.
[...] was Park(ing) Day, an all-day long event that converted paved parking places across the US into verdant refuges. [...]