On September 19th, 2008 on of the more colorful events will take place, Park(ing) Day. Lovers of colorful uses for public space will be uniting to take the poorly used grey on grey metered parking spot and turning it into a space filled with colorful public use. A space that a true 'public' can use, instead of that single driver who would occupy the space, not even with themselves, but only a car, while they run a couple errands, or, maybe, even go enjoy the park.

About Parking Day

PARK(ing) Day is a one-day, global event centered in San Francisco where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.

Photo by Laughing Squid

On National Park(ing) Day - Friday, September 19, 2008 - public parking spots nationwide will become public parks.

The goals of the event, according to organizers, are to celebrate parks and promote the need for parks in America's cities.

Sponsored by The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national conservation nonprofit, National Park(ing) Day is an annual event celebrating parks. Participants in more than 60 cities nationwide, including New York, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. have announced that they will create temporary parks in public spaces.

Photo by Steve Rhodes

In the past week, supporters in a number of cities have signed up to participate, including Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., Dallas, Tex., Waukegan, Ill., Las Vegas, Nev., and both Logan and Salt Lake City, Utah. For a full list of cities, maps, and descriptions, visit tpl.org/parkingday.

"By turning parking spaces into instant parks, National Park(ing) Day is a creative way to demonstrate the real need to have and create parks in our cities," said Will Rogers, TPL president. "Across America, cities are renewing their investments in parks because our 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."

Photo from orphanjones

In 2007, National Park(ing) Day spawned more than 200 new parks in more than fifty cities nationwide and around the world. See 2007 coverage from CNN here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2007/10/15/parking.day.com

Photos from last year's event, as well as a full list of cities with maps and details is available online at tpl.org/parkingday

National Park(ing) Day 2008 is a concept created by San Francisco art collective Rebar in 2005 to re-imagine the potential of the metered parking space. In 2006, in collaboration with TPL, REBAR founded "PARK(ing) Day": a global exploration of the creative potential of streets.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national, nonprofit, land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, community gardens, historic sites, rural lands, and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than two million acres nationwide. TPL depends on the support of individuals, corporations, and foundations.
- TPL

Photo from orphanjones

The First Park(ing) Day

Providing temporary public open space in a privatized part of town.

One of the more critical issues facing outdoor urban human habitat is the increasing paucity of space for humans to rest, relax, or just do nothing.

For example, more than 70% of San Francisco's downtown outdoor space is dedicated to the private vehicle, while only a fraction of that space is allocated to the public realm.

Feeding the meter of a parking space enables one to rent precious downtown real estate, typically on a 1/2 hour to 2 hour basis. What is the range of possible occupancy activities for this short-term lease?

Photo from urbanreviewstl.com

PARK(ing) is an investigation into reprogramming a typical unit of private vehicular space by leasing a metered parking spot for public recreational activity.

We identified a site in an area of downtown San Francisco that is underserved by public outdoor space and is in an ideal, sunny location between the hours of noon and 2 p.m. There we installed a small, temporary public park that provided nature, seating, and shade.

Our goal was to transform a parking spot into a PARK(ing) space, thereby temporarily expanding the public realm and improving the quality of urban human habitat, at least until the meter ran out.

By our calculations, we provided an additional 24,000 square-foot-minutes of public open space (during the first Park(ing) day.
-REBAR Group

So, this Sept 19th get together with some fellow color lovers and take back our public space for the day, relax, and imagine the colorful world we could have where the drab, crowded, and congested city streets are transformed from grey to green.

Header image by Laughing Squid