MTC ART GALLERY

(PARK)ing Space

PARK(ing) Day, September 21, 2006, was an exploration of the potential alternative uses of the real estate occupied by on-street parking spaces. If people plugged a meter to “rent” a parking space for two hours, what else might they be able to do with that space? Build a mini-park? A small garden? Throw a beach party? Give out tea and cookies to pedestrians passing by on the sidewalk?

Where else can you rent 150 square feet for a few quarters an hour? With great locations, great views and great access to transit, parking spaces use some of the prime real estate in our cities.

In San Francisco — home of a unique community of city advocate-artists — PARK(ing) Day was an opportunity to find out how to use city parking spaces more creatively.

Many of the alternative uses for parking spaces provided a place for people to chat, to play, to nosh and to commune together in the heart of their community.

Other places looked to the greening of the streets, replacing the hardscape of concrete with the verdant plant life of an oasis in the desert of blacktop.

Putting a few quarters into the parking meter gave many people a chance to share a bit of space with their friends, and to make new friends… something much more interesting than (and you could say a welcome change from) more car storage!

These ideas and more were explored at PARK(ing) Day in San Francisco and Berkeley, and are documented in the photos that you see here.