8 Sep 2008
Untitled Document
Friday, Sept. 19 is National Park(ing) Day, an annual event that celebrates city parks by transforming parking spaces into temporary public parks. A San Francisco art collective, REBAR, originated the concept in 2005. On National Park(ing) Day in 2007, more than 200 new parks were created in more than 50 cities nationwide and around the world.
This is an impressive turnout for a first-time national event. It would not have been possible without hard work from hundreds of people who are passionate about parks.
What is remarkable about the event, and the work goes into it, is how it only begins to scratch the surface of the enormous task and challenge of creating a single new park in any American town or city.
To create a new park in this day and age often takes some magical combination of political and community will, public and private capital, land (more on this shortly), the people that will share that public space, and professionals of many stripes — planners, landscape architects, recreational equipment specialists, engineers, and politicians.
But what is the wellspring of the magic?
I think the answer lies in whatever spark of inquisitive obligation propels someone to cart 200 square feet of sod, a bench, and plants to a parking space in the middle of a downtown and build a temporary park in a parking space for a few hours ”¦ and in whatever makes offering that space to the community make sense. And the answer can certainly be found in the sheer variety of temporary parks that populated the streets of America for a Friday in September last year.
Finding a place for new parks in old cities is hard work. It takes creativity (like the transformation of abandoned elevated rail in New York City and Chicago into new parks). Or it takes ingenuity (like reclaiming and cleaning up industrial sites such as gasoline tank farms in Los Angeles and turning them into parks). And it takes investment -- because the rewards support both the bottom line and the character of the community.
After Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans, much of the 1,300 acres of City Park (the seventh most visited park in America, prior to the storm) were six feet deep in water. Two thousand trees died. And the 260-person staff had to be reduced to 26. The thirst for reclaiming New Orleans meant bringing back both the practical urban features and parks. City Park will reclaim its landscape over time, and as the city, community, and nonprofits put its pieces back together, they are adding new elements, thinking creatively about what a new City Park, not merely a recovered City Park, would mean to a new New Orleans.
In any city finding room for new parks is challenging, but not impossible.
National Park(ing) Day — one Friday afternoon of temporary parks in parking spaces — offers a glimpse into how a little more green, a little more public space in the heart of our cities can be imagined and get us in touch not only with nature but with our neighbors, as well.
People passionate about parks in more than 60 cities will create well over 300 parks this September 19. You too can participate. Visit www.tpl.org/parkingday to find out more, learn how to participate, and see whatÂ’s coming to a city near you.
P.S.: Watch a video showing examples of parking space/parks from previous years!
 Matthew Shaffer coordinates National Park(ing) Day for The Trust for Public Land and thanks San Francisco art collective REBAR which conceived Park(ing) Day in 2005 to re-imagine the potential of the metered parking space. |
