PARK(ing) Day has returned and it’s bigger than ever! Over 50 locations in Seattle will be transformed into temporary park space for play, entertainment, leisure, and art. Seattle joins a growing movement that is now in its tenth year that seeks to bolster community discussion on how public space is created and used. Innovative parklet and demonstration designs challenge visitors to consider other ways to utilize limited right-of-way space. Seattle has already taken many of the lessons learned in previous and put them into practice with the establishment of eight parklets and streateries. And not to be outdone, the city is also making targeted use of on-street parking for other uses like bioswales, bus bulbs, wider sidewalks, and cycletracks.
This year’s entrants have upped the game with some highly unique parklets. In Belltown, the National Park Service plans to lay down an interactive acoustic map for visitors to listen to soundscapes from the nation’s national parks. Kaffeklatsch in Lake City will roll out a corn harvest where kids and adults alike can chuck corn! And the folks from Ankrom Moisan Architects in Pioneer Square plan to devise a mobile phone-free zone on the sidewalk. They hope to funnel people on their mobile phones to task-specific furniture for texting, e-mailing, calling, and charging while those mobile phone-free walkers walk by without the worry of collision.
