Park{ing} Day

Park(ing) Day 2019

August 14, 2019 by Sarah

Did you know?

More than 80% of all public space in cities is streets with the majority of that space being allocated to vehicles. Park(ing) Day asks the question, is this how we want to use our public space?

Thanks to Donald Shoup, the dialogue about the economic implications of dedicating so much of our public infrastructure to the automobile has continued to gain momentum. By giving so much of our public space away to be used for free private vehicle storage, the economic incentives sway toward this use.

Kids playing slow down — Park(ing) Day event in Boise’s North End

As one of the largest forms of public space, our streets can be used for more than just moving people and storing vehicles. Our streets can be places to relax and gather.

Temporary street closures, such as play streets, block parties or street fairs for example, demonstrate the varied ways in which a city’s streets may be utilized. Park(ing) Day is another example of a temporary reimaging of our streets.

This year Park(ing) Day will take place on September 20, 2019, and across the globe parking spaces will be temporarily transformed into small parks and other social spaces. This international event began in San Francisco in 2005 and has evolved into a tactical urbanist holiday. The Park(ing) Day Manual states,

Urban inhabitants worldwide recognize the need for new approaches to making the urban landscape, and realize that converting small segments of the automobile infrastructure – even temporarily – can alter the character of the city.

Events like Park(ing) Day enrich our communities by creating inviting social spaces and by promoting spontaneous social interaction, fun and providing a space for creativity to thrive.

Park(ing) Day as Tactical Urbanism

Defined as a low-cost, temporary change to the built environment, tactical urbanism is all about action. According to the Tactical Urbanist’s Guide,

This approach refers to a city, organizational, and/or citizen-led approach to neighborhood building using short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions to catalyze long-term change.

By allowing users to walk through, touch and experience ideas, tactical urbanism can help with rapid prototyping of ideas and allow users to experience everyday spaces in a new way.

While Idaho is in its infancy when it comes to tactical urbanism, Park(ing) Day provides the perfect introduction to the idea of incremental change and DIY urbanism. Anyone can create a pop-up park to playfully reimagine what could be done with just some of the space usually dedicated to private vehicle storage.

Ready to get involved?

Consider creating a parklet in your neighborhood, or work with your employer to plan one near your office. There are contacts around the state that have coordinated parklets in the past, if you would like to get connected with these resources, reach out to us. Idaho Smart Growth also has a limited number of parklet supplies available for anyone interested in putting together a parklet. Contact our office for more information.

Our goal is to create a map of Park(ing) Day events around the state. If you are coordinating a location, send us your event information to be included!

PARK(ing) Day – Thoughts from Idaho

November 9, 2018 by Sarah

2018 Park(ing) Day in Boise, Idaho can be called a success!

With 9 parklets in 6 locations around the city, we had more than twice as many parklets than ever before and 5 new locations including two strip mall parking lots supported by a National Street Service grant. Parklets at Vista Village and the Collister Shopping Center were the main focus of the grant, aimed at re-imagining shopping center parking spaces as community gathering places.

Parklets dotted Boise’s landscape with locations including: Vista Village, Collister Shopping Center, the North End, and downtown locations at DL Evans Bank (9th and Main), along 8th Street and outside City Hall (Main and Capitol). Stakeholders across different backgrounds spearheaded these efforts with parklets created by Idaho Walk Bike Alliance, American Heart Association, Ada County Highway District’s Commuteride, D.L. Evans Bank, Stack Rock Group, the city of Boise’s Energize Our Neighborhoods, Vista Healthy Corridor, North End Neighborhood and Collister Neighborhood.

In a story from the Idaho Business Review about the event, Deanna explained the vision,

[Parklets are] just one more way to rethink our streets. Our streets are a very important asset, and we’re not getting all we want our of our streets.

The article continues with a quote from the original PARK(ing) Day manual,

Urban inhabitants worldwide recognize the need for new approaches to making the urban landscape, and realize that converting small segments of the automobile infrastructure – even temporarily – can alter the character of the city.

What we learned:

Partners are important
Location matters – especially in a parking lot
Get an earlier start to get the word out and alert the media
Give something away
Parking lots have their own set of challenges
Materials available for loan removed a barrier to doing a parklet
Parklets or other pop-ups can be educational but only second to fun

How we measured our impact:

62 ice cream scoops given to those visiting the Collister parklet and completing a comment card
We gained new partners in the community
We shared education about how to do a parklet
We emptied our storage unit of loaned parklet items
Parklet organizers reported positive feedback from the public
Parklets were features in articles in Idaho Business Review and Boise Weekly
Parklets moved beyond Boise as well. ASLA highlighted parklets around the region.

What happens next?

The city of Boise is working towards creating a pop-up park policy to make the process easier and more streamlined for future events. As we work towards a pop-up park policy with the city and ACHD, the more people engaged, the more demand for changing policy!

Boise is in its infancy when it comes to tactical urbanism, but Idaho Smart Growth will continue to help the movement grow by encouraging more people to use pop-ups to activate our streets.

We want the public to see such use of our streets as an everyday occurrence, not just something that happens on park(ing) day. We don’t want people asking, “What’s this event?” we want people to say, “Check out the new pop-up park. Let’s go hang out over there!”

Take a look at all the great photos from events around Boise on our Facebook page!