Parklets, The Tiny Parks of San Francisco
Since 2009, San Francisco residents and visitors have enjoyed a growing ecosystem of mini plazas and tiny parks aka parklets. The small public spaces, on reclaimed streets and parking spots, are part of the city’s ongoing Pavement to Parks initiative. Most parklets are sponsored by neighboring businesses, but the city recently received its first residential parklet, when Amandeep Jawa sacrificed his driveway to erect the ‘Deepistan National Parklet in the Mission district. Parkmobiles, moveable plant-filled dumpster parks, have also recently sprouted up in SOMA.
The parklet system is reminiscent of an earlier project, the 2005 “Park(ing)” guerilla park installation by San Francisco’s Rebar design studio, which evolved into Park(ing) Day, an annual worldwide event that takes place this year on September 16.
LA Times recently covered this phenomenon with their story “Tiny parks are on a roll in San Francisco”.
Photos by Steven Kyle Weller, Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times, and via ‘Deepistan National Parklet
E.D.W. Lynch
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