Tactical Urbanism projects lead to City Wide Pilot Programs
In September 2011 we launched Fort Lauderdale’s first PARK(ing) Day event. We are so excited to see it is catching on. Both the City of Miami and Fort Lauderdale have instituted pilot programs for “Parklets” aimed at encouraging businesses to widen their sidewalk square footage for pedestrian use by utilizing (purchasing) City metered parking spots for a year. This year’s PARK(ing) Day will be a regional event for several South Florida communities. Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami are all set to have park locations on Sept 20th.
PARK(ing) Day originated in San Francisco and is the brainchild of REBAR, Landscape Architects and Installation Artists. And yes you guessed it, San Francisco was the first City to embark on making the one day parklets that pop up for PARK(ing) day a more permanent improvement for their citizens with their Pavement to Parks program.
{Cadence Parklet Prototype below}
You may ask why all the fuss about a turning one parking spot into some extra space for people to sit and visit? Parklets and PARK(ing) Day go beyond the simple act of extra seating or “green” space. It’s a fundamental change of thought on how we view outdoor space, and streets more specifically. Streets don’t have to be for the automobile only. By addressing all modes of transportation, the safer and more attractive our streets become – which means more enjoyable cities for urban living. From our perspective as Landscape Architects, we see Parklets as a major step. Cities are listening and noticing tactical urbanism projects like PARK(ing) Day. That means community members, designers and business owners who care are making a difference. Whether its PARK(ing) Day, Better Block or Revel on the Block, these one day pop-up events that are proving to be catalysts for permanent improvements to take hold.
If you want to see want all the buzz is about – we’ll have 3 spaces set up, joined by Urban Matters CoLab, for this year’s PARK(ing) Day. September 20th 9am-5pm on NW 5th Street in FATVillage. Happy PARK(ing)!
