Community Vitality + Placemaking Fact Sheet

Park(ing) Day

Overview

September 2021 — Park(ing) Day is an annual celebration of downtowns traditionally held on September 17. The original purpose of the celebration was to raise awareness of the amount of space dedicated to automobiles by temporarily reimagining individual parking spaces as parks, playgrounds, outdoor dining, and plazas. The celebration was started by the multidisciplinary studio Rebar Group, Inc. in San Francisco in 2005. Since then, hundreds of cities from around the world, large and small, have joined in to reimagine their downtown.

Purpose(s)

While the original purpose was to call attention to the abundance of space dedicated to automobiles, Park(ing) Day can also provide opportunities to prototype and test urban design features in a downtown. Some examples might include:

• Expanding outdoor seating for downtown businesses.
• Expanding retail space for existing downtown businesses.
• Alternative pedestrian and bike infrastructure.
• Expanding outdoor recreational space.

In addition, Park(ing) Day can also provide local artists and entrepreneurs with opportunities to
showcase their work and test the market. Some examples include:

• Temporary retail spaces of potential entrepreneurs.
• Temporary exhibit spaces for local artists.
• Temporary performance spaces for local artists.
• Food trucks

Resources

For more information about Park(ing) Day, please contact us.

Community Vitality + Placemaking Fact Sheet: Imageability Mapping