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VANCOUVER WOULD BE COOLER IF #166: We Turned A Few Parking Spots Into Parks

In lucky San Francisco, via Neatorama:

The two bright-red dumpsters, 16 feet long by nearly 6 feet wide and filled with greenery, have been placed in a busy downtown neighborhood where they throw a little shade, elicit regular double-takes and fill curbside spots that otherwise would go to cars. The grandly named “parkmobiles” were rolled out earlier this summer, the first in a fleet of itinerant oases in one of America’s densest cities. “The more crowded a city is, the more new ideas come squeezing out of the ferment in a combination of need and opportunity,” said Peter Harnik, director of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land. “New York and San Francisco are two of the most innovative places.”

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There are 7 comments

  1. Hey! Vancouver already IS cooler. Check out ‘Parallel Park’ on E 14th in front of JJ Bean. Courtesy of Travis Martin and Viva Vancouver.

  2. A friend of mine that is a city planner recently posted an article on Facebook outlining what the most progressive cities in the world are doing to address their traffic issues. In Singapore, as usual, they are radical and have a car tax as much as the car. Elsewhere, the most effective thing was to simply start taking away parking spaces… when people know parking will be a pain, they start to bike and transit more (mind you those cities have amazing transit systems).

  3. @STEVE – Not necessarily – there is never any parking in San Francisco, people double park and block traffic while the rush to get their dry cleaning, baguettes or lattes. It’s a nightmare.

  4. We’ll definitely try, but it’s not the first time. They cover local models like nobody’s business, so we had a staff meeting and decided to surrender that whole editorial sector to them. We also sacrificed our party bus and have had to rent out our Himmo (that’s a Hummer Limo) just to pay for toner, but that’s another story.

  5. I’ve seen a number of different designs for (often temporary) “parking space parks” in recent years. (I’m currently out of town, so haven’t checked out the new one in my hood at Main & 14th, but I’m sure it will regularly be packed!).

    But I like the one featured above for incorporating both shady greenery and seating. Plus, the portability of the trailer likely makes it more friendly to city planners, since it can easily be moved elsewhere if necessary for road work or events.

  6. I like what Viva did on Main, but I agree with you about mobility. The drag and drop nature of the one in San Fran (and the usurpation of a parking spot) is ideal.

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