Dave Reid
Car Culture

PARK(ing) Day 2012

Expanding public space, one parking spot at a time.

By - Sep 21st, 2012 10:43 am
PARK(ing) Day

PARK(ing) Day

UPDATE We were rained out last Friday so we are holding our PARK(ing) Day event today Friday Sept, 28th, 2012.

Once a year thousands of groups around the globe lay claim to a little bit of public space that is normally dedicated to the car. They claim it, by feeding the meter, just for a few hours. The idea is meant to challenge our preconceptions of what a metered parking space can be used for. Maybe it should be a place for bike storage, cafe seating, simple green space, or any of a multitude of other people-oriented ideas. Quite simply PARK(ing) Day is about changing the way we think of our streets, by putting people first.

So join us Friday, September 21, 2012, on Milwaukee St. between Mason and Wells, from 10am to 4pm for PARK(ing) day 2012. This year our PARK(ing) Day czar Jeff Jordan and artist Caressa Givens have been added to the Urban Milwaukee team and with their help we hope to have created a more visible and active use of a parking spot.

Givens has a background in printmaking and posses a great passion for public art and design. This year, she is creating seating for our PARK(ing) Day installation that will utilize materials that have a rich cultural connection to Milwaukee as well as Wisconsin. Using hop bine, the vines that grow and produce hops for the production of beer, she will construct bail-like stools for seating. The nature of the seating is intended to be approachable and modular.

A separate team will be laying claim to their piece of public space, with a new Milwaukee Park(ING) Day installation. It will be located on the 900 block of Brady Street (between Marshall and Astor), from 11am to 3pm.

Featured #parkingday Tweet

Categories: Car Culture

4 thoughts on “Car Culture: PARK(ing) Day 2012”

  1. Jeff Jordan, PARK(ing) Day Czar says:

    Rain Date: September 28th:
    Stop by even if it’s just to say hi on your way to other activities. Give us your ideas for next years installation.

  2. Bill Sell says:

    The first (that I know of) PARKing installation was in Bay View by IN:SITE, a group dedicated to temporary public art. The archives point to May 2007.

    http://www.insitemilwaukee.org/Archive/Bayview_Summer_2007.htm

    We need more of these as time and energy allow. It helps people reflect on the dead weight of a single auto, and the possibilities we shut out by developing parking as if it is as important as drinking water.

  3. Casey says:

    All the cheap parking on our city streets I think is the most wastefull subsidy for autos. That public space could be used for wider sidewalks for pedestrians, parkettes or you the space for infrastructure for different modes is dedicated transit lines and protected bike lanes.
    $10 a day for a piece of prime downtown realstate

  4. CRC says:

    City Reformed Church is going to celebrate PARK[ing] Day 2015 this Friday morning September 18.
    Come enjoy our little park in our little lot at 1661 N. Farwell.

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