community · creativity · environment · play

Introducing Park-A-Park: Vancouver’s Recently Launched Mobile Parklet | Spacing Vancouver

Beth Kelley

Have you ever wandered into a neighborhood or parking lot and thought, “Wow, this space could use a nice mini-park, or even a bench.” Well, here you go!

A colorful banner pasted alongside the bin’s rough exterior cheerfully announces ‘Park-A-Park’, the mobile parklet that launched on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive at the tail end of July. The bin reaches just over three feet high, its inner walls are ringed with wooden bench seating, and planters and tables mingle inside to offer a charming, yet functional environment. The unit is capped by a shade-providing umbrella, and one end of the bin lies open, like a drawbridge, coyly beckoning passersby to enter.

A partnership between Emily Carr University of Art + Design and local Urban Interventionist Julien Thomas, Park-A-Park has been designed to transform an industrial disposal bin into an aesthetic mobile park that can be transported, parked, and enjoyed throughout the city. The unit is a component of Emily Carr’s chART project and aims to support public art and community engagement through creativity and innovation.

more via Introducing Park-A-Park: Vancouver’s Recently Launched Mobile Parklet | Spacing Vancouver.

For more information, you can also visit: www.parkapark.com.

This is reminiscent of PARK(ing) Days in the U.S. where people take over parking spaces in cities and turn them into mini-parks.

Where have you seen mini-parks, or think there should be one? Leave your ideas in the comments below.

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