What is Park(ing) Day?
Commercialized street parking is prevalent in metropolitan cities. As urban development rapidly progresses, and condominiums raise throughout the city. More and more people migrate downtown and commuting alternatives are created for the city dweller. People are encouraged to drive less and commute to work or the store via bikes, walking, electric scooters, etc. Public services like Biki and ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft make it more convenient than ever to get around town.
With cars being the more expensive option to get around (ownership, gas, insurance, etc.) and so many alternatives available, commercialized street parking is becoming less desirable. Parking meters are no longer a driving force of revenue, if anything, it creates an opening for more parking violation tickets, which makes way more money. Put that aside, when street parking is less viable as a source of revenue, one starts to wonder “how can we recycle this space?” Well, that’s what Park(ing) Day is.
As the utilization of parking spaces decrease due to urban transportation alternatives increasing and that fact that the city is being gentrified where everything is conveniently close together, we can predict there will be a lot of empty plots of asphalt available as a result of fewer cars on the road. Which is why every year, Park(ing) Day September 21, 9am – 4:30pm, we spread awareness amongst the community, demonstrating creative and unique ways to recycle street stalls into public points of interest, which are called parklets. Parklets vary; we’ve observed relaxation areas, libraries, coffee shops, etc. It’s a fantastic and unique way to increase city land value, while simultaneously giving the community something environmentally friendly to enjoy. Otherwise, it’s just a lot of empty space lying around being wasted.
The HHF Planners and Geobunga Parklet!
Geobunga collaborated with HHF Planners to create a awesome resting spot parklet. The parklet simulated a backyard-like environment, plenty of Macarthur Palms in handmade planters, which is highly complimented with a wooden backdrop. The perfect background is accompanied with furniture to sit and sleep on, umbrellas to provide shade from the scorching sun. We also added an ambient water fountain feature. Sounds of water create a relaxing and tranquil environment. In a city where people have hectic schedules and noise pollutes the atmosphere, a peaceful resting spot is much needed to take a break from the world, and to preserve one’s sanity. We want to thank everybody who stopped by our parklet during their busy day and were able to take a little break from life. You deserve it and we’re so glad we were able to turn an empty space into something that helped better your day.
For those of you are more interested in the little details of the parklet. It was constructed on the morning of at 9am (HHF staff works efficient and effective) and deconstructed at 4:30pm. The backdrop scaffolding and grounding is built from recycled wood. The Macarthur Palms are planted in handmade wooden planters. Then HHF laid 2″ x 3″ Pure White beach rocks, and bordered them with random-sized puka lava pavers around the planters. The water fountain feature is an aqua handmade 5 handle waterfall urn with an FP300 pump on an FP2400 fountain basin. Wooden beach furniture and red umbrellas are placed for resting and relaxation. Again, we would like thank and give HHF Planners major appreciation for setting all of this up at the beginning of the day.
Why Park(ing) Day is important and what it means to you.
It’s the lifelong problem that Earth’s resources are not infinite. We as intelligent human beings, should not create products that are completely useless after they have served their purpose or after their demand cycle. Everything should be recycled, including physical space. This is how we are able to stretch what we have on this planet!
Park(ing) Day is important because it emphasizes that not everything we have on this planet (including areas/land) is forever. We have to be witty and preserve what we have. Sure, limited resources won’t affect most of us in our lifetime because we would long be gone by the time the planet starts to show depreciation, but it is our innate responsibility as humans to take care of the place we live in. Everything we use and own should have more functionality and usage beyond its initial purpose, including street parking stalls. Parklets encourage people to come together to develop creative solutions that better serve the community. A parking stall that serves 1 person at a time, has been upcycled (upgrade+recycle) to a public point of interest that optimistically serves 8-10 people. The problems and questions we always want to tackle are “how else can we use this” and “how do we make it better than before.”
We want our planet to last for many generations to come. A way to ensure that this planet will be here thousands of years forward is to make sure we as a community encourage and emphasize the idea of sustainability. This is why Geobunga supports Parklets. It’s the idea of applying sustainability to land. To be able to re-use land in alternative ways that benefit a larger group of people. With street parking becoming less prevalent due to alternative transportation methods and gentrification, we are thinking forward on how to best utilize the future, empty spaces that the city may have an abundance of. As people who live in a state, where land is very limited, we simply cannot stand back and watch land not being used efficiently. We hope to do it again next year to continue the ongoing positive vibes and positive messages. What are your thoughts on parklets?
Thank you www.hhfplanners.com Photo credits to HHF Planners and Geobunga.