PARKing Day | Denton Texas

This past Friday, I got to participate alongside my firm, in an event called PARK(ing) Day ! What is PARK(ing) Day you ask? Well, let me fill you in.  Essentially, PARK(ing) Day is an international event, where a parking spot is transformed into a miniature park.  This is to help raise awareness of the value of urban parks within a community.  Let’s be honest, we have enough impervious pavements in our cities, to begin with, so why not build more parks! Rebar Studio in San Fransisco was the first firm to initiate the PARK(ing) Day movement.

This PARK(ing) Day event was cool in the aspect that it was my idea to have our firm participate.  Y’all, imposter syndrome at your first job is a very real thing, and something I have definitely been dealing with in my head. It is nice to be able to look at this event and be like “I did that”.  We didn’t have a huge turnout to our PARK(ing) Day, but it was a last-minute event, and we didn’t have a ton of exposure.  Still, it was fun! As John Bela from Rebar put it, it is a gateway drug to urban transformation. Let’s be honest, the green movement is really picking up traction too with all talk about climate change. PARK(ing) Day is just one way that the conversation is reframed to discuss how our public spaces are used.  One aspect of our Parklet that we tried to incorporate is the idea of educating the public about both native plants (which are a great choice for sustainability) and what we as landscape architects do for the environment.

Since you probably didn’t get to visit our AWESOME Parklet, let me tell you what all was in it! First off, mini fall-themed cornhole. I know, you’re jealous you didn’t get to play. We obviously had lots of plants, mostly native.  There were also tables, Parking day information signs, checkers, and fun moss letters to take pictures with. I may be a little biased about those letters, I made them.

I am excited to see what all our Denton PARK(ing) Day could transform into in the future!  If you have any questions about sustainability or Landscape Architecture, feel free to comment or email me! I’m always happy to answer.