Park(ING) Project

Key Facts:

Project summary: A two hour installation of a park within a metered parking space.

Location: 1st and Mission Streets, San Francisco

Programme: Bench, Tree & Green Space

Initiator: Rebar Group

Project Duration: 2 Hours

Lead in Time: 1 month

Site Area: One kerbside metered parking space. Approximately 18.5m2

Client Team: Rebar

Project Team: Led by approximately 5 people from design and architecture collective, Assemble CIC who oversaw design and operation. Construction labour by around 200 volunteers

Funding Sources: Self Funded £500

Funding Type: Initiators own capital

Project Costs (Build): Labour (volunteers) £ N/A

Project Costs (Operation): Parking Meter £1

Profitability/Loss: Non commercial, Total cost approximately £550

Permissions / Permits: None

Local Links:

Publicity/advertising: None up front but subsequent viral marketing of project via single image on the internet.

Project Evaluation:

Site Details & Ownership:
City of San Francisco, metered payment for parking.

Project Reach / Visitors / Target Audience:
The project reached a global audience, though this wasn’t planned for. The image of the pocket park sitting between cars on the street went viral on the internet and received a global interest.

The number of people who connected directly with the initial project was low in comparison, though not insignificant itself.

Problems Encountered / Overcome:
Logistics of doing something new. The principle of putting a park in a parking space has the potential to provoke surprised reaction from authorities, ReBar negotiated this through dialogue, emphasising the benefits of their actions.

Feedback from users / staff:
In recent years, participants have built free health clinics, planted temporary urban farms, produced ecology demonstrations, held political seminars, built art installations, opened free bike repair shops and even held a wedding ceremony! All this in the context of this most modest urban territory – the metered parking space.

What next?

The project only lasted two hours in a single car park space in downtown San Francisco however the idea caught the interest of the media and blossomed into an international event called Park(ing) Day. Rather than follow up on requests to repeat their park across the globe Rebar made the Park(ing) Day project essentially open source, with each pop-up park being funded and implemented locally by individuals.

Rebar maintains the website (www.parkingday.org) which hosts a list of the Park(ing) Day interventions and also provides a how to guide.

Complementary Programmes: Café, Library

Project Website / Further Info: http://rebargroup.org/parking-day

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