In 2005, the now defunct Rebar placed coins in a San Francisco parking meter not to park a car but to erect a small public park. Every third Friday in September since then, activists worldwide who wish to foster a conversation about the lack of public space have been transforming parking spaces into everything from greenery to art installations to places for wedding ceremonies. This September 18th, potential participants are encouraged to download the Parking Day Manifesto, which is a how-to-guide on transforming that slab of asphalt into an engaging public space.
5 Comments
silly
'Lack of public space'?!? Hey activists: FUCK OFF!
yeah there's a 'park in process' ... I'm a gonna park all over your dirty hippy asses!
Wait, davvid, what's silly: the act of re-appropriating public space, or the manifesto about it?
(I mean, if your comment had come after FRaC's I would have assumed you meant he was silly, because we all know that he is; it's hard not to giggle, like when a toddler throws a tantrum.)
The best thing about Parking Day (and it's been around a long time, is hugely popular, and has spawned lots of offshoot public placemaking-type efforts, so nobody's approval is really necessary at this point) is that it asks the question why is it OK to use shared space to store objects but not bodies? We criminalize homelessness, then allow any rando to rent a large chunk of shared infrastructure for their car-object. Of course, attempt to sleep in that object, because it may be your only form of shelter, and you'll likely be arrested.
Michael Rakowitz did the best project around this question that I've seen.
Donna, I don't disapprove. I just think that its silly. Its probably cathartic and fun. Beyond that I don't really see it having much value. We're designers. If your city needs more or better quality public spaces, design what they should look like and where they should be located. If streets and their uses needs to be more flexible and responsive to the cycle of the day or week, there is a design project waiting to happen. Get your neighbors and representatives to support a plan for change. Taking over a public parking space and making it into some ugly fort with dead sod doesn't really seem all that persuasive to me. The public already "takes over" streets for festivals, block parties, protests and parades, its just that a permit and some planning is usually required. There are also many examples where private lots are used for other purposes on weekends. Its quite common already, its just usually less artsy, aggressive or pious. Also, I'm not at all for criminalizing homelessness or public sleeping, I'm for designing spaces where they can sleep safely. If this whole thing were actually about public sleeping, then the appropriate protest would be to sleep in public (Public Sleeping Day is February 28).
"Wait, davvid, what's silly: the act of re-appropriating public space, or the manifesto about it?"
I guess what I find silly are the actual installations that result. We've seen many examples of good pop-up installations and good micro-public spaces, but I find that these parking-day projects to often be very ugly and usually designed to satisfy a particular clique of urbanists who usually already know each other. Its quite different from something like a public cluster of bistro furniture and a wifi signal that you might find in Dumbo or Brooklyn.
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