82. Parklets
San Francisco and elsewhere / Various
San Francisco’s streets and rights-of-way make up fully 25 percent of the city’s land—more than the area of the city’s parks combined. This fact motivated design studio Rebar to create a micro-park that occupied a metered parking spot in downtown San Francisco one afternoon in 2005. Seven years later, PARK(ing) Day (September 21) is observed in 162 cities in 35 countries. Interestingly, the idea has made institutional inroads: In 2010, New York City, which has already converted several miles of roadway into microplazas, began issuing Pop-up Café licenses, allowing businesses to extend outdoor seating into adjacent parking spots during the summer months. And in 2011, San Francisco began issuing Parklet Permits to residents and businesses alike, as part of its Pavements to Parks program.
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