Some of our visitors

ITSRG partnered with students enrolled in Environmental Policy Issues, a course offered by the Department of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University, to mount a Park(ing) Day space on North Broad Street last Friday. The students in the course planned and executed the event. ITSRG has supported the project dissemination through maintaining a live blog of the event on our Twitter feed last Friday and continuing to integrate feedback into the project blog found at: http://plantyourpark.tumblr.com.

Park(ing) Day is a once yearly event that has a simple premise: organize people to plant a one-day-only park in a metered parking space, preferably in a visible and high traffic locale. The aim of the event is to raise awareness about the implications of our automobile driven lifestyles and the quality of urban spaces. The day has expanded to become an international event from its grassroots start in San Francisco in 2005.

Our investigation of web activities related to Park(ing) Day reveals that very few universities explicitly engaged the event. We are aware of the University of Kentucky's GreenKY event because they followed ours via our Twitter feed and blog. We have also found information about the event organized by architecture students at the University of Southern California through their blog post. Students are clearly deeply connected with spaces that were created all over the country, however we found it interesting that little attention to their involvement per se is rising to the awareness of academic departments and researchers. We would love to catalog other events that students created in connection with their academic courses of study and student organizations, so please email us with your links.

We suggest that there are at three themes that provoke interest in Park(ing) Day and other web-disseminated environmental campaigns like it for the academic and organizing information technology, education and geographic communities.

First, Park(ing) Day illustrates the power of viral campaigning that characterizes web 2.0 dissemination approaches.  Nearly 70 cities participated, with multiple parks created throughout via the assistance of what is now the National Park(ing) Day organization. This illustrates the rapid increase in attention to the event that has been generated within the blogosphere. Interestingly, our local official organizers encouraged us to implement our site as a "guerilla" park because we only recently connected with them when classes started in September. Given that just three years ago, the entire event was uncoordinated by local and national organizers, we found their suggestion to work outside of the organizer and city-defined parameters quite intriguiging.

Second, Park(ing) Day represents the state of the blogosphere in terms of the connections between different social media to promote the event and call attention to parks created. Flickr photos are fed to national and local organizer websites, and individual parks garner attention from both mainstream and independent news media.

Third, the geographic implications of the event are also noteworthy. Because flickr photos can not only be geotagged but also geo-rssed (is that really a word now?), one can discover parks that were created well after the event occured and in concert with other photographs about unique locations situated nearby.

Finally, one gains an appreciation of the degree to which organizing is being reshaped by the blogosphere and interconnected web 2.0 technologies. Our stats related to this event include not only the thousands who drove by our highly trafficed locale, the hundreds who walked by, and the dozens who spent real time in the park throughout the day - but also our Twitterers followers, the news reporters who appeared because they followed our Tweets, their audiences, our student participants and their social networks, and our broader BITS and ITSRG program participants and their social networks who track us on our blogs regularly. We suggest that the magnitude of our individual event, along with the National phenomenon, illustrates that web 2.0 and interactive mapping tools exponentially increase the numbers of people and range of their interests exposed to these activities, while simultaneously illustrating vastly different levels of engagement in the ideas and substance of the event.

Michele Masucci
Caroline Guigar
Temple University

Jonathan Otto, Cartographic Intern at ITSRG created the map below of Green Spaces in Philadelphia along with Philly Park(ing) Day 2008 sites, shown in red. Our site was chosen because of the relative lack of parks and open spaces off campus in North Philadelphia.

A Map of Green Spaces in Philadelphia and Parking Day 2008 Sites
 


Comments

Peter Chomko
09/25/2008 08:40

In his Stuff White People Like blog, humorist and cultural critic (to use both terms rather loosely) Christian Lander sarcastically sings the praises of ‘raising awareness.’ Tongue held firmly in cheek, Lander defines ‘awareness’ as ‘the process of making other people aware of problems, and then magically someone else like the government will fix it.’

Now, awareness isn’t all bad; in fact, it really is an important thing, an essential component to any kind of major movement for change. Lander’s point, and my own, is that awareness in isolation is pretty useless. A nice gesture, sure, but so was that ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner we had flying over in the Persian Gulf a few years ago—and we all know how well that worked out.

National PARK(ing) Day, as it currently exists, is all about raising awareness. It’s a powerful communication tool, taking advantage of the high visibility of its PARKs to help engender a re-imagination of the urban landscape. And to that extent, it’s fantastic. The way a message is communicated is often as valuable as the message itself (as any post-Inconvenient Truth convert to climate change activism will no doubt confirm for you), and a PARK is a pretty memorable medium.

The problem, however, is that communication—even especially effective communication—can only get you so far. The message matters, obviously, but so do the various uses to which that message is put.

Ostensibly, PARK(ing) Day is supposed to be about making our cities greener, and thereby more livable. For a number of the participants in Philadelphia’s PARK(ing) Day, however, making our cities greener means making them more money. Of approximately 35 “official” participants in PARK(ing) Philly, more than fifteen were architecture, landscape architecture, design or engineering firms for whom “the greening of Philadelphia” also means the greening of their wallets. While it’s not my place to say whether the various national and international firms that participated in Philadelphia’s PARK(ing) Day truly did so altruistically, it’s also impossible to deny that for such firms, a purely monetary interest in greener cities most definitely does exist.

Whether or not much of Philadelphia’s “official” PARK(ing) Day event (organized, it must be noted, by the American Institute of Architects) violated the philosophical spirit of PARK(ing) Day, numerous aesthetic violations most definitely did occur, as “official” participants dispensed with possibly the most poetic aspect of a real PARK(ing) Day celebration—the meter itself.

Talking the Parking Authority into extending the two-hour time limit on a space is one thing; talking the Parking Authority into actually bagging off the meters is entirely another. As if the corporatization of Philadelphia’s PARK(ing) Day hadn’t done enough to kill off the anarchic spirit of the initial event, the AIA and PPA felt it was necessary to deliver this coup de grace. Working within the law to perform an act the legal establishment might not necessarily love (but can’t legally do anything about) is different from asking the same legal establishment to allow you, just this once, to “break” the law—with official sanction. It’s like shoplifting something you’ve already paid for: for all intents and purpose, an empty gesture.

Later in his entry on ‘awareness,’ Lander makes another interesting point: ‘Raising awareness is also awesome because once you raise awareness to an acceptable, arbitrary level, you can just back off and say, “Bam! did my part. Now it’s your turn. Fix it.”’ The humor in Lander’s statement, unfortunately, stems from its truth. For many of its participants, PARK(ing) Day 2008 is likely to be an isolated event; awareness raised, they can now go back to living their lives, and perhaps expecting a little more business to trickle in as a result of their “involvment.”

For the Temple students involved in this event, however, September 19th was just the beginning of a process about more than just “awareness.” It’s about investment, it’s about involvement, it’s about imagining our future.

And we’re not poised to make a cent out of the whole thing.

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Shelly link
10/01/2008 09:54

September 26, 2008

When the idea of National Parking day was thrust upon us, I had my doubts. First off, no one in the class knew what it was. But now I look back at the preparation, and the day itself, and find that it was such an awesome experience.

I was in the research group, and helped make the pamphlet. National Parking day started in San Francisco California in 2005. It was a brain child of the Trust for Public Land, and the idea has really taken off. It started out with only 5 spots, and now many spots in about 80 different cities!! From doing this research, my computer illiterate self learned how to use blogs and tumblr, and also how to make publications on the computer.

Now for the actual day itself - On Friday September 19th, 2008 I was waiting for the train with my plant. It is probably an unusual sight to see a person walk onto the train with a plant. And I got a lot of odd looks, but 4 people asked me about my plant. And I told them all about the event, and where our location would be on Broad Street. All of them seemed quite intrigued by the idea. The response I remember most was from an older lady who thought National Parking day should be everyday. She loved the idea. After I got off the train at Temple I walked to our spot, and boy did it look great!! I was so pleasantly surprised. We had plants, and furniture, and it looked amazing. I felt we really did a good job at getting our idea across about the past, present, and future of Philadelphia. And we also make it an interactive spot by having people place stones next to easy things they can do to help the planet. Some of these things included: Conserve energy and water, REDUCE DRIVING, eat less meat, and recycle. There was a wide variety of visitors that we had in our park, from students to staff to the local neighbors. We had such a good spot that we had a TON of drive by visitors, around 500 pedestrians, and about 100 people who we talked with. But I feel that our park reached further than that. A lot of the visitors went home and saw National Parking Day on the news, and then talked to someone in their household about it. More people were educated about it.

I left the parking spot around 12:45(with my plant), and I went to go and hear Howard Dean, and Mayor Nutter speak on Temple’s campus. That was such a cool experience for me, but anyway.

After the event was over I was just hanging out with my plant, and Mayor Nutter walked over to me and asked about the plant. So I told him that the plant was a participant in Nation Parking Day. He knew exactly what National Parking day was, and he thought it was a cool idea! SO COOL!!!! So after the conversation with Nutter I walked to the train station, and engaged in 2 more conversations about the plant and parking day. I don’t get out too much, and this day was probably one of the coolest days I’ve had in a really long time. Between the parking spot and meeting Mayor Nutter. It was cool.

This event cost us $134.10, but I feel it was worth every bit of it. The amount of people I talked to about the day, and the amount of people our class reached out to made this day worth it. I feel our park was a great success.

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Aaron link
10/01/2008 09:57

National Park(ing) Day shows that with a little work positive things can be accomplished. Within a few weeks, our
environmental studies class was able to conduct research, construct the parking space park, and implement it on the
actual day. Although I only was able to see the park in passing because I had work on the event day, the website following the event showed me that it was a clear success.
Along with the aesthetic appeal of making a parking space a park for the day, the overall message to green the city was clear. The comments of the visitors showed that there is an undertone from the neighborhood that calls for more parks and
a greener community in general.

Although Park(ing) Day is just a small step towards educating the community and spreading environmental awareness, it is a
good step. If we can show that a little bit of work can lead to something positive, hopefully it will motivate others to do some good, no matter how small it might be. Plant a flower, pick up some trash off the ground, turn off your lights, anything can help. Small starts like our park in a parking space can lead to bigger projects like cleaning up vacant lots and making them parks, which is being done throughout Philly. Spreading awareness and making the city green, no matter how small the step may be, is beneficial for everyone and I feel that Park(ing) Day helped perpetuate that notion.

Aaron Colsher
September 30, 2008

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Samantha link
10/01/2008 09:59

On Friday, September 19th, our Environmental Policy class participated in Philadelphia Parking Day. Our class split into different groups to create a green space in a parking space on Broad Street. I decided to join the advertisement group. Our purpose was to garner as much attention as possible for the event. For the first few classes we brain-stormed about different ways that we could get people around campus to come see the green space. We decided that we could reach people through list serves, e-mails and flyers. We distributed flyers to different locations on campus, including the Student Center, class buildings and dorms. Overall I think that our ideas were good.

When it came to the project itself, I was very skeptical about the whole idea. I didn’t think that the idea would really relay the message that it was supposed to, or that the location would get enough foot traffic. I figured that no one would take the time to stop by or pay attention. However, to my surprise there was more buzz than I thought there would be. I was very surprised that a reporter from WHYY was interested in seeing the space and the people stopped by to ask questions about the space. I guess that just goes to show that discouragement shouldn’t get in the way of purpose. Even if there is doubt about anyone coming, you should still go through with it, because you may be surprised.

September 25, 2008

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Leigh link
10/01/2008 10:04

We all contributed to making our park(ing) space what it turned out to be, but I think that Maria, Tim and Chris need extra acknowledging. Without Maria's efforts our green space would not have been green at all. Maria was able to track down plants that were lent to us free of renting charge. Also I think that Chris and Tim's handiness needs to be recognized as well. The raised garden and the table and stools added dimension to the space and made it very aesthetically pleasing. I was surprised at how much can be done, and done well, when everyone contributes a little bit.

September 25, 2008

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Maria
10/01/2008 11:48

The turnout of our space for National Park(ing) day was surprising. When the event was first introduced to us, I was skeptical. I thought maybe there was a reason the event isn’t very big in Philadelphia. After all, we have a HUGE Fairmount Park and some little neighborhood parks scattered around. Let’s admit it, we’ve got some great parks around the city. Before planning even started, I introduced the idea to a friend of mine, who wasn’t a big fan of the idea. “I would be pissed… if I was looking for a parking spot and there was this ‘thing’ there for no reason,” was the gist of his response. Once planning started, though, I was more optimistic. We were all developing our own purpose toward the event. Some focused on the need for parks in the city, and others shifted focus toward the need for the city to become more sustainable by becoming greener. With a new sense of purpose in tow, I saw the whole event in a new light. Pulling the event together was easier than expected. With everyone contributing, it didn’t seem like anyone had too much work and there was no panic that’s usually associated with pulling together an event: no last minute rush, no chaos, nothing. Just calm and advanced preparation....
For a little while, I also starting thinking that finding plants was going to be tough. What business would actually loan plants to a group of students in an action of civil disobedience… for free? Yeah right… and after several calls, I started to realize just how many calls I might have to make. For a neighborhood garden center, however, nonprofit and civil disobedience is perfect, so the New Kensington Garden Center came through.
I was very pleased with our turnout, though I was mostly there only for set-up and break-down. Especially surprising was that not only WHYY covered our event, but Channel 3 news was there too. The space was beautiful, and we all had our explanations as to what it meant. And so many ideas came out of it! The recycled furniture and planters were absolutely gorgeous and had people staking claim to them before the event even started. It was definitely a fun experience.

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Lindsey
10/01/2008 14:25

The park turned out so much better than I thought it would. I think the class overall did a really good job of working together and integrating our ideas to come up with our final products.It was really neat to see the whole process come together and I think the turn out was amazing.
I think our location of our spot on Broad Street was crucial in getting the most public attention as possible. So many people participated, walked by, and hundreds and hundreds drove by. Even if they just passed it and glanced it I still think it had affect on them because I'm sure they at least thought about it later, wondering what it was..and at least for a second they were able to envision what Philadelphia could look like if it was more green.
I think our project was a huge success and it really showed that people in Philadelphia are interested in greening their city. Hopefully some of the people who received pamphlets were able to make some changes to live more environmentally friendly, but either way our event brought a lot of awareness to environmental issues and I think that could go a long way.
Hopefully next time there will be more people and classes throughout Philly and in the US who participate in National Parking Day and hopefully we are on our way to a greener Philadelphia.

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Lara link
10/01/2008 17:41

It doesn't take much to convince people of the need for more green space in a city like Philadelphia. Although Fairmount Park is quite a monumental and massive space, it is very far removed from most of the city, particularly from North Philadelphia. Creating a greater awareness of the need for more of this public green space and demonstrating how easy it is to make small contributions is relatively easy, as we were able to demonstrate through Park(ing) Day here at Temple University. No doubt, it is a noble cause and something that people all over can do with considerably few resources and time.

There is, however, a need better publicize this event on a national scale and that it should be an initiative that cities
need to get involved with on an official basis in order to incorporate effective advertising and cooperation. One element
of the Park(ing) Day this year was certainly executed through occupying the parking space, but the other element of getting people to leave their cars at home was not. If cities provided either an incentive to leave cars at home or if there
was a larger awareness of the objectives of Park(ing) day it might be executed more effectively in the future.

I realize that is a tall order, but it seems that cities are beginning to actively promote green awareness and this would be a sure demonstration and encouragement done by city governments to show people how to make their own spaces a little greener everyday.

September 25, 2008

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Graeme Dean
10/05/2008 17:46

I, too, must admit that when the idea of National PARK(ing) Day was presented to us, I was seriously skeptical. I do not consider myself an activist; admittedly I can be very apathetic. I was almost certain that we would present a mediocre park given the short timeframe we had to work with. However, I was willing to give it a try, and it seems like everyone else in the class was as well.
Though as a graduate student, I was supposed to be the leader of our group (event organization / implementation), I felt like the contributions of some members of the group made them more leader-like than me! Everyone in the group had great thoughts of what we could implement, and everyone was supportive of all ideas. As we began to talk with the research group and the communications group, it became very apparent that not only was this project doable, but that we could make it into something quite special.
Our group designed the space together, playing off each others’ ideas. One of our initial concepts was the idea of “greening your own space” – whether though rooftop gardens, or whatever means possible. I made a suggestion of using garbage to decorate, by using bottles as vases. Though I didn’t have any other ideas ready, everyone else went with it and suggested the tables and chairs and planters.
Since Chris needed pallets to construct the planter and stools, I helped him get a bunch of them from my brother-in-law.
On the day our park was unleashed on Broad Street, I got there as early as I could to help with the initial set-up. I was able to stay till noon, talking to a few visitors, and cultivating friendships with some of my classmates. I feel like we designed a really amazing park, and it truly illustrated the point we wanted – it doesn’t take a lot of time or money to beautify your own space.

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Graeme Dean
10/05/2008 17:51

Tim and Chris deserve an awful lot of credit for making our table, planter and stools. Maria and everyone who brought plants (I know Shelly and Lance did as well) were integral to the success of our green space. And Jonathan's work with the maps is a beautiful addition that adds a very professional gloss to the whole project.

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David Pirko
10/06/2008 09:33

One more moment past

Parking Day 2008 was a resounding success. Within two weeks of the start of class our parking space had been fully developed, implemented, and even promoted on the local news. The production of the 'park'ing space itself was much easier and fun than expected. Several class sessions of brainstorming, discussion, and event planning made the entire process smooth, interesting, and involving. My involvement as a research member entailed the creation of information materials, historical as well as statistical data, and attending the event.
I attended the event of parking day with most of my peers in the morning. Staying for nearly four hours I saw a great number of people become interested in our temporary landscape redesign. The park builders did a great job, and I was able to enjoy the fruits of their labor with a warm cup of coffee due to my wonderful professor. The implication of parking day is far more than just the activism of creating a park on a paved surface. Instead it speaks volumes about the necessity of space the automobile requires. Urban form has the blight of parking written all over it; parking day enables you to see past the present to the possibilities of the future. Sprawl, pollution, long walks, unsafe streets, terrible public transportation, and poor air quality can all be seen in the ramifications that such a void of space for a car can provide in the larger fabric of urban life.
The future can seem dull or bright depending on your perspective; parking day has been brightening perspectives of urban environmentalists for years and will for many more to come.

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Turquoise Martin
10/15/2008 11:30

While I was not able to physically attend National Park(ing) Day, I certainly was there in spirit and had been a walking advertisement for the event prior to its renowned debut. I was very proud of what the park became and proper credit needs to be given to those class members and others that actually set the stage for our sustainable disobedience in, what I call, the wee hours of the morning.
This event really made me think of what our world may have looked like without the introduction of the automobile and all of the complements that go into its production. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say and I’m sure things would have been done quite differently had the complete detriment of becoming a fossil fueling, automobile dependent, industry crazed nation been realized. Staring with simply limiting the number of vehicles allowed to occupy city streets, we can impact a given area pretty significantly as in the case of London and some others.
Ending on a happier note, I was quite impressed with the willingness of local businesses to get engaged and contribute where they could. Though I was not able to get any donations from the three retailers I solicited due to time restraints, they seemed eager to be involved with our next project. Thanks to Maria, her great networking with the New Kensington Garden Center, and the individual contributions of our class we were able to plant a beautiful park which has made our class the poster-team for sustainability…who’da thunk it!

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