Dinosaurs, chickens, multi-modal adventure courses, and improvised community art projects are just a few of the unexpected things you might have seen popping up in parking lanes around Seattle this past Friday. Coinciding with the Seattle Design Festival, Friday September 18 was PARK(ing) Day, an international event in which people around the world work with their local municipalities to temporarily convert parking spaces into creative community spaces. As shown below, PARK(ing) Day not only brings residents together, it also allows them to explore the hidden potential of public spaces normally occupied by vehicles – and it seems to unleash some amazing creativity to boot!
With over 50 temporary parklets popping up in Seattle last week, this was Seattle’s biggest PARK(ing) Day yet. Here are a few of our favorite installations:
Local architecture firm ZGF encouraged passersby to add their artistic touch to this community-built “urban lego” sculpture:
Kaffeeklatsch in Lake City gave us a little taste of country life:
Folks in the U District invited us into their “living room” for a cup of coffee:
SDOT even got in on the fun as we hosted our own pop-up parklet at 3rd and Pike, complete with a multi-modal adventure course, patio seating, landscaping, and a corn-toss game:
Feeling inspired to host a PARK(ing) Day parklet of your own in 2016? Check out the SDOT PARK(ing) Day info page here. It’s never too early to start planning your contribution to Seattle’s public-space experience!