In early October I was in San Francisco. The Sunday before heading back east I ended up going to the Axis cafe with my family, which includes a three year old niece, a seven year old nephew, and a soon-to-be two year old nephew (Happy birthday tomorrow Samir!). Needless to say, this particular brunch was a bit hectic. It was a beautiful day and the kids were dying to get outside and everyone seemed restless. After a long wait for our food and strained conversation (everyone was really hungry) amongst eleven across a huge table we made our way outside. The kids ran as fast as they could out into what would normally be the street but in this instance was a remarkable little park.
This little slice of urban infrastructure had been sectioned off and turned into a kind of oasis filled with benches and grass perfect for wrestling with a hyped-up seven year old. As cars sped past us not more than 50 feet to the north and south it felt more like we were playing in a country town in Wisconsin rather than the streets of a major U.S. city. Dumpsters and sewage pipes converted into planters shielded us from the streets and helped drown out the constant hum of passing autos.
I hadn’t thought too much about this little park until discovering that Kelly Loudenberg had made a film about this unique space—designed by Rebar, the San Francisco design collective also responsible for Park(ing) Day—as part of BabelGum’s “New Urbanism” series of shorts. The project is, as lead architect John Bela (below) explains in the film, part of San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks program.
Pavement to Parks is a collaboration between Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office, the Department of Public Works, and the Municipal Transportation Agency. As stated on Pavement to Park’s site “San Francisco ’s streets and public rights-of-way make up fully 25% of the city’s land area, more space even than is found in all of the city’s parks. Many of our streets are excessively wide and contain large zones of wasted space, especially at intersections. San Francisco’s new ‘Pavement to Parks’ projects seek to temporarily reclaim these unused swathes and quickly and inexpensively turn them into new public plazas and parks. During the temporary closure, the success of these plazas will be evaluated to understand what adjustments need to be made in the short term, and ultimately, whether the temporary closure should be a long term community investment.”
The design team used donated items from the Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Public Works, including the stencils below which allowed the space to be reclaimed in a completely new fashion…
and the one below which sums up this new take on gritty city space nicely.
I’m looking forward to what Pavement to Parks and Rebar have in store for us next…
Shows what resourceful people can do with urban space to make it more user-friendly. Good article well-illustrated. Children rule! Oh, by the way, it was a great Sunday.
Children definitely do rule!
This is interesting as there are similar parks popping up in Seattle. The lower Queen Anne area (just north of the Seattle Center/Space Needle) is very urban with little greenery. The city recently turned a vacant lot beside a busy intersection into Counterbalance Park. The park is gravel (no grass), with benches and a few small trees planted. At night they project fading colors of lights into the cement walls surrounding the park. It’s a very odd park, but interesting addition to this very cement urban area.
Deja, sounds really interesting. Anywhere you know of to see photos? Would love to know more about it…