From Car Spaces to People Places: Park(ing) Day is coming to Phoenix

Following up on the successful Jane’s Walk Phoenix in May, a couple of friends and I are organizing another ‘place making’ event on Friday, September 18th.

PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event that promotes green and urban public spaces as community activists, neighborhood leaders and urban planners step up to the curb, put a quarter in the meter, and transform curbside metered parking spots into temporary public parks. The event helps people review the way we use our streets and creates diverse conversations about how we can make sustainable cities. PARK(ing) Day is based on the idea that putting money into a parking meter is like renting a public space.

Jane Jacobs, in The Death and Life of Great American Cities wrote that a city that is safe, prosperous and worth living in, one must start with “lively and interesting streets.” With this end in mind, Park(ing) Day Phoenix is an opportunity to create community, engage the public and begin a dialogue on topics ranging from city parks and public space to the environment to mobility options and community improvement projects.

The Park(ing) Day PHX spaces will be located next to ASU Downtown, on 1st St. between Polk St. and Fillmore St. between 7 and 9 a.m.

PARK(ing) Day was created in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco-based art and design studio, as an experimental exploration in repurposing public space. Since then has been creatively adapted and sparked imaginations around the world.

For more details on Park(ing) Day in general, visit www.ParkingDay.org or contact me via email.

If your living in Phoenix, I hope you can stop by and support us. You can RSVP on Facebook or Yelp.

Here are some pictures from past Park(ing) Day events in other cities.