Reprendre nos rues…
(all photos in this post found here.)
San Francisco is taking some lessons from New York City. They have recently created a number of mini-parks out of street-space that seems like it could be put to better use.
They say on their website:
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.
(before)
(after)
How does it work? :
Each Pavement to Parks project is intended to be a public laboratory where the City can work with the community to test the potential of the selected location to be permanently reclaimed as public open space. Materials and design interventions are meant to be temporary and easily moveable should design changes be desired during the trial-run. Seating, landscaping, and treatment of the asphalt will be common features of all projects.
(before)
(after)
For yet another completed project, go here.
What criteria do they use for choosing their sites? :
- Sizeable area of under-utilized roadway
- Lack of public space in the surrounding neighborhood
- Pre-existing community support for public space at the location
- Potential to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety via redesign
- Surrounding uses that can attract people to the space
- Identified community or business steward
Once a site has been temporarily reclaimed, the city monitors how it is working, whether minor tweaks need to be made, and whether the site seems like a good candidate for a permanent closure.
Here are some projects soon to come.
The City of San Francisco has a least another 12 spots in mind for temporary conversion to these mini-plazas / mini-parks. And they are open to suggestions for others!
Very impressive.
For more details and photos of each of these and other projects, go here.
Montréal ? Le Plateau ? Le Mile-End ?
