PARK(ing) Day 2010: Parking Spaces Around the Globe to be Temporarily Reclaimed for People

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In cities around the globe today, 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 by Rebar, a San Francisco-based art and design studio, PARK(ing) Day is a grassroots, "open-source" art project that challenges people to rethink the way streets are used. "In urban centers around the world, inexpensive curbside parking results in increased traffic, wasted fuel and more pollution," says Rebar's Matthew Passmore. "The strategies that generated these conditions are not sustainable, nor do they promote a healthy, vibrant human habitat. PARK(ing) Day is about re-imagining the possibilities of the urban landscape."

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 in 21 countries on six continents. This year, the project continues to expand to urban centers across the globe, including first-time PARK installation in Tehran, Iran.

Over the four years of PARK(ing) Day, participants have broadened the scope of PARK installations to fulfill a range of unmet social needs. "From public parks to free health clinics, from art galleries to demonstration gardens, PARK(ing) Day participants have claimed the metered parking space as a rich new territory for creative experimentation, activism, socializing and play," says Blaine Merker of Rebar.

This year Rebar will launch PARK(ing) Day Paris, in partnership with French cultural organization Dedale (dedale.info). In Paris Rebar will unveil "Blades of Grass" - a set of fifty mobile, modular devices that can be used to improvise and define public social spaces. Constructed of 9-foot tall bamboo poles and durable nylon fabric, each "Blade" can be carried by an individual and transported by bicycle. On PARK(ing) Day, Rebar will lead a bicycle tour through Paris, tracing a route from the south toward the city center. The route is inspired by an unrealized proposal by early 20th Century landscape architect Jean Claude Nicholas Forestier for a greenway across Paris.

More information regarding local PARK(ing) Day activities and a global map of all participating cities are available at parkingday.org.

About Rebar (rebargroup.org). Founded in 2004 in San Francisco, Rebar is an internationally recognized art and design studio operating at the intersection of art, design and activism.

SOURCE Rebar