Happy Park(ing) Day: Go Create a Better Street
It's Park(ing) Day around the world -- an international demonstration of the potential to repurpose the space given over to cars in our cities. Right now in more than 160 cities in 35 countries, people are setting up small parks in what, for one day, will turn unremarkable 9-by-18-foot asphalt patches into community gathering spaces.
Network blog Together North Jersey is dropping in on the event in New Brunswick and writes a little bit more on what it's all about:
Temporary parklets are created by bringing sod, plants, tables, chairs, and art to a parking space. Depending on the resources available, the pop-up parklet can include a wooden base, specially designed tables and innovative seating arrangements, or be as simple as a blanket and some beach chairs.
There are many benefits to installing parklets in a community. For nearby business (in the New Brunswick case, a coffee shop), a parklet can provide a comfortable place for patrons to sit and enjoy their purchase. For the neighborhood, parklets can add greenery to areas that may lack it due to narrow sidewalks. For the community, parklets can also host innovative art installations and other forms of entertainment; this Friday, the organizers are planning for some light music.
However, nearby businesses may be concerned that the removal of parking spaces will negatively affect their bottom lines. Even though studies, survey and examples from other cities prove otherwise, nothing is better than a real-world example to display the benefits and generate interest in the idea.
Elsewhere on the Network today: Bike Portland reports that police have been cracking down on irresponsible drivers in school zones. Wash Cycle provides evidence that 2012's big jump in bike commuting might have come at a loss to transit. And The Urbanophile gapes at the absurd justification for a boondoggle bridge project planned for metro Louisville.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Talking Headways Podcast: Charging Up Transportation
This week, we talk to the great Gabe Klein, executive director of President Biden's Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (and a former Streetsblog board member), about curbside electrification.
Why Does the Vision Zero Movement Stop At the Edge of the Road?
U.S. car crash deaths are nearly 10 percent higher if you count collisions that happen just outside the right of way. So why don't off-road deaths get more air time among advocates?
Donald Shoup: Here’s a Parking Policy That Works for the People
Free parking has a veneer of equality, but it is unfair. Here's a proposal from America's leading parking academic that could make it more equitable.
Thursday’s Headlines Turn Up the Heat
Whether you realize it or not, climate change is here, and not just in the form of natural disasters.
Calif. Legislators Tackle AV, School Zone Safety
Are AVs freight trucks ready to be deployed on California roads with no one in them?
