Last Friday was annual PARK(ing) Day, and for Howard Blackson, who participated in a pilot park(let) project in San Diego, the reasons to enable context appropriate civic space was underscored again.
"In 2005, San Francisco design firm, Rebar, transformed a single metered parking space into a temporary public park for 2-hours. An image of this transformational act went viral and changed the way we ‘see' public spaces. This lone 'parklet' led to PARK(ing) Day, informing the Tactical Urbanist toolbox, and being formally adopted by San Francisco, Long Beach, Boston, and New York."
"Our little Parklet on Friday was a temporary, simple place and, while it appeared to be antithetical to the beauty and grandeur of our great Civic Spaces, its democratic spirit was still intact," says Blackson, who details the lessons (re)learned during his experience:
- The Street did not feel as ‘dangerous' as we tend to expect.
- Place matters.
- Civic space really does connect people.
- America's greatest idea, "that all men are created equal," is realized in public space.
Thanks to Hazel Borys
Read the full story: Great Civic Space: It ain’t the size, it’s what you do with it
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority