Arlington's 'pop-up park' activates a vacant plaza

In a piece for Smart Cities Dive, Mary-Claire Burick and Kate Ange describe how their organizations, the Rosslyn Business Improvement District and Arlington Economic Development, turned a vacant, underused terrace into a "vibrant third space." 

The Rosslyn NOW Pop-Up Park "was intentionally designed as an interim solution for a vacant commercial office building awaiting redevelopment, meeting immediate community demand while supporting longer-term planning." 

According to the authors, "The NOW has become a regularly used space that demonstrates how interim third spaces can quickly become part of neighborhood life while delivering measurable impact." The BID worked closely with county staff to create "a foundation for future interim placemaking efforts." 

The authors note several lessons for third space strategies: planning for both interim and permanent efforts, creating flexible zoning and regulatory processes to allow for third space creation, leveraging local BIDs as partners and investing in the care and management of these spaces once built.