PARK(ing) Day London 2010

Posted on Sep 14, 2010 in PARK(ing) Day 2010 | Comments Off


Who: Local citizens who want to reclaim public space for the people of London
What: PARK(ing) Day; a global event that challenges people to rethink the way streets are used
When: Friday September 17th, 2010 11am-1pm
Where: Downtown London

London, Ont – On Friday September 17th, 2010 in cities around the globe, artists, activists and citizens will temporarily transform metered parking spaces into public parks and other social spaces, as part of an annual event called “PARK(ing) Day.”

Originally invented in 2005, PARK(ing) Day challenges people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure.

Since 2005, the project has blossomed into a worldwide grassroots movement: PARK(ing) Day 2009 included more than 700 “PARK” installations in more than 140 cities on six continents. This year, the project continues to expand to urban centers across the globe including London, Ontario.

As a non-commercial project, local citizens in London intend to promote creativity, civic engagement, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play. By providing temporary, multi-use public open space in a privatized part of town (via a PARK(ing) space) the hope is that the public realm will be expanded to improve the quality of urban human habitat.

“Urban inhabitants worldwide recognize the need for new approaches to making the urban landscape; PARK(ing) Day demonstrates that even temporary or interim spatial reprogramming can improve the character of the city.”

- John Bela, Rebar Group on PARK(ing) Day 2009

PARK(ing) Day is a grassroots, “open-source” invention built by independent groups around the globe who adapt the project to champion creative, social or political causes that are relevant to their local urban conditions.

More information regarding local PARK(ing) Day activities is available at http://www.parkingdaylondon.ca. More information on the global event can be found at http://www.parkingday.org.

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About: Founded in 2004 in San Francisco, Rebar (http://www.rebargroup.org) is an internationally recognized art and design studio operating at the intersection of art, design and activism. Invented in 2005 by Rebar, PARK(ing) Day (http://www.parkingday.org) challenges people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure.

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