PARK it!

January 5, 2006 - A friend of mine sent me a really cool site at work today. To combat the lack of green space in downtown San Francisco (where 70% of outdoor space is devoted to vehicle use), a group called "rebar" implemented a PARK(ing) program, in which a metered street parking spot is leased (i.e. money is put into the meter for 2 hours, as if you're using it to park a car) and the parking spot is then transformed into a small parkette - complete with trees, a bench, and grass. The whole idea is to put valuable downtown land into better use, particularly for recreational and natural uses.

Here's the premise behind the idea:

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?

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.

In one afternoon alone, the group claims to have provided an additional 24 sq. ft/min of new park space! What a cool idea eh? Even if it's only temporarily.

Check out the group's website - be sure to take a look at the videos and pictures of people using the park!

http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parking/index.html