Park(ing) Day 2014: Civic Pride Creator or Prospecting Opportunity?

Around the world, the third Friday in September marks the arrival of Park(ing) Day. Celebrating 10 years of innovation, Park(ing) Day originated in San Francisco from an unsanctioned experiment invented by an art and design studio called Rebar. 

Park(ing) Day is about collaboration with organizations and individuals to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “Park(ing) spaces.” This process of creating temporary public places in an unusual location, the street, challenges how we prioritize public space in our communities and further accentuates the disproportionate role of the automobile in the public space equation. 

The original vision of PARK(ing) Day, as per parkingday.org, is “to challenge the existing notions of public urban space and empower people to help redefine space to suit specific community needs.” The focus is on reclaiming streets for people, and having dialogue about how public space is created and allocated in our communities. The PARK(ing) Day Manual from Rebar notes their hopes that this event cultivates our sense of civic pride and encourages us to consider the potential of the citizen’s role in conceiving, building and improving our local urban environments.

Here in Washington, DC, Park(ing) Day consisted of approximately 20 sanctioned spots. DC requires both a permit ($50 plus a $5 technology fee) as well as paying the meter. The city also requires general liability insurance for the space. That may explain the seeming lack of citizen-led Park(ing) Day spaces in DC.

There were two noteworthy Park(ing) Day spaces in Georgetown, sponsored by the Georgetown Business Improvement District (BID). The BID focused on the spaces changing the way people interact with the streets. With the comfortable and interesting seating options and absence of advertising, these spaces were great for hanging out and really encouraged chatting and getting to know people.  Of the seven spaces I visited, these were the only two that I felt captured a nugget of the mission. These two spaces were in heavily car congested areas where the pedestrian has a tough time finding a spot to breathe, literally. The BID most likely hopes to work with the community long term to create parklets in these areas to provide people much-needed space amongst the sea of cars and traffic in Georgetown. 

Then there was the Zipcar Park(ing) day space(s). This was different from the others. First off, they got a permit for two consecutive parking spots for the day and they cleverly extended it to three by parking their ZipCar Van in the spot adjoining their Park(ing) Day spread. 

A review of the DC permit process for Park(ing) day reveals the requirement for the applicant to provide a rather detailed park concept as well as a sketch of the site design.  This means that the DDOT most likely knew and approved of what Zipcar was up to that day in their Park(ing) Day space: advertising and pitching their business. Or – Zipcar didn’t include in the permit process the fine details of their intended design. 

Zipcar cleverly selected I Street NW as their 2-spot Park(ing) Day location. This location is on the fringe of the George Washington University campus on a busy block next to the Foggy Bottom Metro. One of their permitted spots demonstrated what you might expect from this event: AstroTurf with some bright and comfy chairs. They also had corn hole available. 

The other Zipcar spot was the interesting specimen. There were some Zipcar employees manning a table, handing out Zipcar advertising pieces and tchotchkes - ready to tell you about their service and how to get signed up. As I am already a Zipcar member, I didn’t get too involved in this part of the park, however, I did hear a passerby ask if he could take a Red Bull from the ice cold Red Bull display and the Zipcar employee said, “Not unless you hear my pitch first.” 

Zipcar may have been reclaiming the streets, but they were also paying the permit and parking meter fee to have a new space to further prospect for memberships. Should Park(ing) day be about advertising? Does the message of what the parking spot transformation symbolizes get lost in the advertising fray? 

Gizmodo.com posted an article in 2013 called Why We Don’t Need Parking Day

Anymore. While I don’t agree with many of the reasons this article lists for why we don’t need this event anymore, I do find myself asking, what exactly are we accomplishing? Challenging how we prioritize public space is really important and whether a company or a group of people in a community organize the Park(ing) Day space, this challenge can still be realized.  

But what happened to people creating these spaces? Have we killed the heart of this thing with sanctioning, additional fees, and insurance red tape? I am most concerned with what happened to community in all of this. Rebar was focused on empowering people to redefine space to suit community needs. And speaking of spatial needs or lack thereof, I also visited a Park(ing) Day space close to a park. I believe the space was selected in order to advertise more efficiently. More food for thought: the seven spaces I was able to visit were in the more affluent areas of the city. 

So, did Park(ing) Day in DC cultivate a sense of civic pride? Were people prominently in the equation of these temporary spaces? They didn’t seem to be designing or planning these temporary Park(ing) Day spaces. They weren’t exactly mauling each other to spend time in the spaces either.  Maybe more people would come out for Park(ing) Day if they recognized themselves in the process of creating these temporary public spaces.  

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Fine Dining Flash Mob Activates DC Yards Waterfront

Secretly activating public space certainly provides obstacles. Washington, DC just showed that it can be done - and with a flair of sophistication.  The first ever DC-based Diner en Blanc just spontaneously occurred at the beautiful Yards Park on the waterfront of South East DC. The planning for this Placemaking event started a year ago! The event planning was initially handled via a Facebook page. Then the organizers sent out private information directly to those who registered for the event.  The fact that this event was kept a secret right up until the start of the flash mob entrance was noteworthy.  It did raise some eyebrows when dozens of people began appearing from the Navy Yard Metro escalator dressed in all white carrying chairs and folded tables. Those of us living in the area were certainly not prepared for the sight of the estimated 1,200+ locals, decked out in head-to-toe fun and fancy white attire with white tablecloths, white chairs, white flowers, fine china and flatware.

Hearing what the spectators around us were saying, coupled with the tweets rolling in from the participants, the event seemed to create a bonding experience that those involved found engaging. DC residents clamored months in advance to sign up for this secret place event. I think the important question to ask here is, why? As I watched the participants interact with each other and enjoy the space, I found myself thinking about what is it, exactly, that made these residents so drawn to a spontaneous place event in their neighborhood? On Twitter, one woman said that she was so pleased she had the opportunity to partake in a local event that was so unique.  For sure, a fine dining flash mob of this magnitude doesn't take place every day, and so there is that draw to something that uniquely marks this community and the public space.  For those people that signed up (and there was a very long waiting list), it seems they were searching for a new way to experience their local space.  Something about the clandestine community-led planning and the activation of the waterfront space in a totally new way, created a sense of being involved in something special, something together, something more. 

The value of programming innovative and community-centered public spaces has been demonstrated time and again - in this instance, it was spontaneous and sealed with a pinkie-promise commitment from the participants to not leak the location.  Not one of those participants leaked the location. So, how did they create that sort of solidarity to mission, that commitment to each other in their community to do something together and to create a special space?  Really, it was local people agreeing they wanted to share public space together on their own terms and in their own way.  It was important to them that they be involved in planning the event and set a certain tone for the public sharing experience. This event was something special to them. They desired a shared experience in the public space they would never forget. Diner en Blanc created a strong sense of community and belonging for these DC residents.  The participants claimed this public space as their own and made it remarkable.  It was beautiful to watch; I can only imagine what it was like to participate!