Public Park(ing)

Last Friday, you may have noticed there were a few less places to park your car.

Furthermore, you were probably surprised to discover that your local parking spaces had been filled with some very vibrant installations involving a teepee, beach chairs, a makeshift campsite, a balloon lounge or a mini pirate ship regatta, just to name a few.

(Our only surviving photo of the balloon lounge. This was taken with a cell phone, so please excuse the quality.)

Last Friday, September 21, was Park(ing) Day. Originated by San Francisco design studio Rebar, Park(ing) Day is an annual, worldwide event in which anyone is invited to take over a metered parking space and turn in into a public park. The purpose of the event is to “generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat … at least until the meter runs out!” Check out the global Flickr pool to see how others from all over the world have interpreted this challenge.

The AC team ventured out into the streets of SF to capture footage of the creative solutions on display in our hometown. Kova powered the tandem while Jason perched in back and manned the camera. Here are some shots from the final stop on our tour – the pirate ship regatta.