Hunter GUAPA observed the 9th annual Park(ing) Day on September 19, 2014. This consisted of spending the day, from 10:00am to 6:00pm, on Lexington Avenue, by taking over a parking space outside Hunter East, and turning it into a tiny .004 acre park.
The goal was to show how the space of a single parking space could be alternatively used for seating and public recreation. Park(ing) day began in San Francisco in 2005 when Rebar, an art and design firm realized that as long as you paid the meter you could do whatever you want in a parking space — not just park a private car. Traditionally, this accomplished stealthily by simply pulling into an empty metered parking space and paying the meter to park people instead of cars, but today, with Muni-meters all over New York City, a parking permit is obtained by the NYPD (organized by Transportation Alternatives) for a permit for a single parking space to be “turned into a public space to be used for something other than a motor vehicle.” We even stopped by the precinct around the corner, and got someone to move a police car that was taking up one of our possible spaces before we moved in.
In our space, we took some fake grass – this and our caution tape to mark off the enclosure were the only purchased items – and from various classmates, we borrowed an inflatable couch, some camping chairs, and a camping table. A tent was also pitched to fully take-up the entire space. Throughout the day we had a variety of visitors ranging from young to old to Hunter College’s President Raab. Most drivers who passed also supported the space giving us various ‘thumbs-up.’ There was just one auto passenger, clearly unnerved by a parking space being taken up by something other than a private automobile, who opened his window to yell “What the hell are you doing in a parking space!” As planners, it was an important and interesting way to reflect on how much space we allocate for cars by spending a day directly perched on the side of Lexington Avenue.
Written by Jeremiah Cox.
Photos by Jeremiah Cox and Mia Moffett.
