PARK(ing) Day Celebrates New Parklets All Across San Francisco (PHOTOS)

Sometimes it seems like the last thing people in San Francisco want to do with parking spaces is actually park their cars in them.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS)

Exacerbating that trend is PARK(ing) Day, an annual celebration of "parklets"—former parking spaces that have been converted into tiny patches of urban green space.

Now a worldwide phenomenon, PARK(ing) Day began in 2005 when San Francisco design studio Rebar converted a metered parking space in Downtown San Francisco into a public park for two hours—the length of time allowed on the parking meter. When the meter ran out, Rebar's polite urban activists rolled up their astroturf and went home.

As word of the project went viral online, cities across the country started asking Rebar to make "parklets" for them too. Instead, the firm put out a how-to guide for anyone interested in creating parklets and encouraged people from across the country to construct their own.

From those auspicious beginnings, PARK(ing) Day has grown to include participants from as far away as Stockholm, Sweden and Sydney, Australia. Last year's PARK(ing) Day saw parklets taking over 800 parking spaces in 30 countries on six continents.

Check out this Streetsblog video detailing the history and mission of PARK(ing) Day:

According to PARK(ing) Day's official website, "The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat … at least until the meter runs out!"

San Francisco has embraced parklets on a long-term basis as a number of former parking spaces all across the city have been permanently converted into the now ubiquitous parkets.

The parklet concept has grown so popular in the city that when the San Francisco Bike Coalition asked all the current mayoral candidates their views on increasing the number of parklets, virtually every one of them expressed their full-throated support.

Oakland Local reports:

"Turning ordinary parking spaces into parks for a day is a test drive for creating more permanent people-friendly places," says Jeremy Madsen, executive director of Greenbelt Alliance, which is working with Farley's East to host a parklet on Grand near Broadway. Greenbelt invites neighbors of the nearby Broadway-Valdez triangle to visit the parklet and discuss that and other streetscape improvements they would like to see in the area's redevelopment plan.

Check out this map of PARK(ing) Day parklets popping up all over the country Friday:

Some other events happening during PARK(ing) Day include: a traveling food installation at SPUR, blow-up car parking in SoMa, a composting workshop at the Seed Lending Library and "Yoga Between Two Meters," a free yoga class in a Mission parklet.

And it wouldn't be San Francisco without a gaggle of naked people: Accordingly, a group of nudists staged a naked parking space in front of the Castro Theatre to add their contribution to the festivities.

Converting parking spaces into parks isn't the only thing people have been doing with them lately. An inventive Bay Area design firm recently proposed the construction of "pooplets," which turn what was once a parking space into a free, enclosed bathroom targeted for use by the city's homeless community.

The pooplet idea is still in its planning stages, meaning that POOP(ing) Day sadly remains a pipe dream.

Take at some of the parklets sprouting up around the city below:

Comments

[chubby06]

12:15 PM on 09/20/2011

Yay! More park space for the homeless in SF!

The parklets are great since while you dine in them you can spend time chatting (and enjoying the smell with your food) of the endless stream of bums, beggars and hobos coming by chatting you up.

[FrenchKissed]

03:59 PM on 09/18/2011

San Francisco is in greater need of parking spaces than it is in need of more parks. I didn't bother having a car the last seven years I lived there after six years of tickets no matter how hard I tried. But I always lived within easy walking distance of 2-3 parks. The only neighborhood I can think of that has no parks is the Tenderloin, but I don't think that would be such a good idea anyway. Even the Financial District, Downtown and South of Market area have small parks. Plus they have stairway and center divide gardens in neighborhoods like Bernal Heights, the Mission, Telegraph Hill, Noe Valley, Liberty Hill, West Portal, Miraloma Park, Russian Hill and North Beach amongst others.

Plus the parklets don't look like much. A lot of streets have sidewalks similar to the pictures in the slideshow (Market, Church, Noe, Fillmore, Spear, Irving to name just a few). It seems to me like they just wanted to get attention by inconveniencing people, but then that's nothing new.

[paid troll]

10:05 AM on 09/18/2011

brilliant!

[petcraft]

09:41 AM on 09/18/2011

A VERY interesting idea !

[mlaiuppa]

02:40 AM on 09/18/2011

I made mine permanent.

My driveway needed to be replaced. So I used "driveable grass" which is a series of small concrete pillows connected by heavy duty rubber cord in a grid. The concrete provides enough support to drive on but the area in between allows for growing green stuff. So my small driveway (about the size of a parking space) is becoming green. I've seeded it and it's growing slowly. I also have two containers; a large low plastic bowl with geraniums and a concrete cigarette can I filled with rocks, then dirt and then planted geraniums. A hole drilled in the bottom allows the water to drain. I have spider plants growing along both sides of the PARKway. There are also some tufts of wild grasses starting to take hold. What I like most is that when it rains or I wash the car, instead of the water running off down the storm drain it soaks right into the ground.

[whyus]

11:59 PM on 09/17/2011

Cool.

[20thCentury Man]

10:11 PM on 09/17/2011

hippies are alright

[eyelashviper]

12:12 PM on 09/17/2011

Real urban PLANNING would have created small green spaces throughout cities, similar to what these folks are doing with their parklets.
Many older cities have small squares, little spaces set aside for rest and tranquility amid the concrete and noise, but fewer sprawling modern cities do, as little thought was given to such needs, it was all about filling space with more office buildings, parking buildings, stores, condos, etc.

[paid troll]

10:08 AM on 09/18/2011

some cities, such as vancouver british columbia, have the most wonderful little green spaces and roof gardens. they not only looks lovely but keep the air cleaner, cooler and allow people to sit outside in a nice space to eat lunch or just take a break. it's a brilliant idea.

[eyelashviper]

11:23 AM on 09/18/2011

Yes it is, and this concept of public spaces was a part of the early cities here in the US....even the small towns had a village green or town square with trees, open space for all to enjoy, sometimes with a bandstand, and public entertainment. The kind of urban development that occurred in the mid to late 20th century involved no planning, no thought of public space, just sprawl, involving roads, malls, subdivisions, all based on someone developing their area, with no regard to the overall municipal development.
I live in Florida, and all the cities here are clogged with traffice, strip malls, decaying urban centers, and extreme suburban sprawl. It's sad, and says a lot about lack of civic responsibility and far too much rampant, uncontrolled development.

[FrenchKissed]

04:30 PM on 09/18/2011

San Francisco has a ton of places just as you described. There are community gardens, and patches of plant life with statues and benches for people to sit on. There's a non-prof group called Friends of the Urban Forest, 220 city parks and 40 community gardens. There are plazas with plants, fountains, statues and seating.

[dbrett480]

11:58 AM on 09/17/2011

Forgive me for being cynical, but where do these people expect other people to park their cars?

[NamithaSF]

12:33 PM on 09/17/2011

The green and bicycle activists are far from the majoritybut they vocalize and organize X10 their numbers. They want cars to have an impossible time finding a space. It means less business for the stores on streets like 24 th, Union, etc. I also believe the SF cops are told not to cite bicyclists that routinely plow through stop signs and red lights. Some of them really believe they have the legal right to do so. In short, SF is held hostage by bicycle Nazis

[thelipstickfemme]

01:04 PM on 09/17/2011

Critical Mass (cyclists), you are a mess, I don't get why the City allows this invasive Friday night run in the City for years during commute hour much less. I was caught in a Friday night "critical-mass" forced traffic stoppage and the the participants were yelling, and ya hewing it up and started slamming on my windows of my car and laughing because we all were forced to be stuck in traffic. I am constantly getting out of the way of cyclists who refuse to Stop at t stop-sign. Also, what about the cyclists who ride on the sidewalk w/o warning the pedestrians who are are approaching form behind etc?

There has to be better cooperation here and taking over the limited parking spaces in the City will not garner support for your cause, it will only create frustration.

[dbrett480]

01:10 PM on 09/17/2011

That's funny that SFPD doesn't cite cyclists. My department has no issue with citing cyclists (I routinely do it) and was encouraging it after several bike fatalities.

[larmarch5]

01:21 PM on 09/17/2011

At home in their driveways. Or a parking garage. I ONLY take my care into SF if I have to put something large in it that cannot be delivered, if two other people are coming with me, or I have to be there very late and BART/ferries aren't running. I absolutely love taking the ferry, and have met very interesting people doing that commute.

[chubby06]

12:17 PM on 09/20/2011

You live in the burbs and you're lecturing us about being green?

[Hg ore]

06:08 AM on 09/17/2011

Good for you. Cities designed more like urban Europe.

[pmag88]

01:27 AM on 09/17/2011

Nice to live in city with a lot of natural beauty and then only be an hour or two from wilderness. best choice for the future.

[Gary Coxe]

10:38 PM on 09/16/2011

It's a;ways soothing to come across an unexpected green space in the middle of the urban maze. I think this will only gain more popularity as more and more people rediscover the need for plenty of green spaces to improve the quality of their lives.

[Nonpartay]

12:31 AM on 09/17/2011

It would be good for the air, too. I'm going to San Francisco tomorrow. I'll have to look out for these little parks. :)