Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan is our Neighborhood Projects Coordinator. Part of her work is helping organize a lot of our major events to build and engage community, including Park(ing) Day. Read Tanniqua-Kay’s reflections on this year’s Park(ing) Day as well as thoughts from our partners at the Downtown Denver Partnership and Denver Community Active Living Coalition.
Reflecting on the transformation of streets for public use (especially post-pandemic) has led to a reevaluation of the importance of streets for people and the capacity for streets as a third space. Third spaces are social spaces distinctly separate from work and home that nurture one’s need to foster community, to “relax, relate, and release.” We often look at third spaces as community builders and as a vessel for ideation.
Park(ing) Day was the perfect street activation and third space for all because it gave room for true participation. Observers took a moment to sit and linger in parklets that sparked joy and engaged with others about how wonderful it would be if the parklets were permanently implemented. Imagine, streets designed for, and prioritizing people! What could our cities look like if we prioritized third spaces as a source for building community and new ideas?
On September 16, Denver Streets Partnership collaborated with the Downtown Denver Partnership and Denver Community Active Living Coalition to co-host Park(ing) Day with sponsorship from Lyft. Park(ing) Day is an annual event that encourages repurposed curbside parking spaces, “parklets,” for public amenities curated and designed by and for people. These parklets spanned over three locations in the city center of Denver: Market Street (between 15th and 16th), Glenarm Place (Between 16th & 17th), and Court Place (between 14th and 15th).
This year, fifteen community members and organizations competed in a parklet design contest which was based on the Outdoor Downtown Plan: a social, recreational, connected, cultural, and sustainable downtown. Each participant was tasked to reimagine public spaces and there was an outpouring of innovative ideas. There was a parklet filled with pool noodles for an immersive experience, green eco-friendly utopias, spaces to unwind, an ode to Plaza Grande (Yucatán, Mexico), and a parklet filled with puppies!
The contest categories were; Best interactive Games, Most Artistic, Most Welcoming, Best Connected, and People’s Choice. Our judges, Alyssa Alt (Department of Transportation and Infrastructure), Chandi Aldena (Trust for Public Land), and Adrianna Abarca (Latino Cultural Arts Center), visited all three parklet locations, interacting with the parklet participants. They asked questions to get a sense of their inspiration, explore their creativity, and understand the inclusivity of their parklet plan and the capacity for the designs to be replicated anywhere.
- The Denver Bike Lobby was voted People’s Choice. They organized a “fuel station for the future” using solar power to charge e-bikes, e-scooters, and other electrically charged devices.
- The City of Denver Urban Design team was awarded Best Interactive Parklet with a wooden seating area with guardrails and pool noodles installed for participants to engage with the life-sized installation!
- The Most Artistic Parklet was awarded to Alejandra Castañeda and Violeta. This artistic and culturally immersed parklet was a tribute to Plaza Grande in Mérida, the capital city of the state of Yucatán, in Mexico. This parklet featured a version of the “lovers’ chairs” found at the original Plaza Grande, books about Mérida, and free paletas (popsicles) from the paletería.
- Design Workshop won the Most Welcoming award, filling their parklet with repurposed and donated materials, native vegetation, and seating structures that gave a living room feel to the streets of Denver.
- Wenk Associates’ vision to create a connected parklet was the perfect example of innovation. The parklet was made of broken-down car parts staged as a living room, plants inserted in the surrounding area to create a lush and open space, and flashcards with conversation starters. These are just a few reasons why they received the Best Connected award.
Reflections from Downtown Denver Partnership
For more than 60 years, the Downtown Denver Partnership has led the downtown Denver community towards a bold vision for an economically powerful and sustainable center city. Guided by the 2007 Downtown Area Plan, the Partnership continually seeks opportunities to implement the visionary recommendations in the plan; to make downtown a beautiful, vibrant, and safe place to be.
On Park(ing) Day this September, we were thrilled to participate as a flagship parklet on Glenarm Place and support community members and organizations in sharing their own designs and activations. The Partnership created an accessible parklet, complete with a platform that raised our parklet to curb height, with shady seats and turf to encourage folks to visit a while. Our parklet offered free books, dog toys, and puppy snuggles through our partnerships with Denver Public Library, KONG, and Lifeline Puppy Rescue. In the true spirit of Park(ing) Day, the Partnership hosted an after-party at The Outer Space—an initiative supported by the Upper Downtown Plan to turn an empty lot into a shared space that celebrates the outdoors. Efforts like Park(ing) Day are important because they offer creative ways to activate space downtown and provide moments of joy in our center city for visitors and residents alike.
Reflections from the Denver Community Active Living Coalition
On Court Street, the Denver Community Active Living Coalition anchored the block with three parklets for respite, dance and information. With shaded areas to hang out, chalk to create art and an all day playlist bumpin’, we had fun with the community all day long. We encouraged folks to take a safe streets pledge in alignment with Vision Zero, where they were able to make a finger paint “pinky promise” to be safer on the streets. In addition, the City of Denver Urban Design team came up with the winner for best interactive parklet, Shears Atkins Rockmore developed a children’s library complete with beanbags to hang out and read, and Denver Parks and Rec had a bike repair station running. By activating the block, not only did City employees come out for a day of fun, but passersby were excited and intrigued to learn about Park(ing) Day and how we can continue to create safe and fun streets for people.
Reflections from the Denver Streets Partnership
In viewing the space in relation to the Outdoor Downtown Plan’s “Connected Downtown”, Denver Streets Partnership collaborated with Bicycle Colorado on the idea of “yin and yang,” which displayed activities that aren’t similar, yet are complementary to each other. In one of our parklets, we incorporated a mini skate ramp creating a high-energy space for people to be observers and participants. The middle parklet was a space for moderate activities and games, while the last parklet left room for a sense of tranquility. We incorporated donated tactical urbanism supplies from Zicla, bordering our parklets to ensure a protected buffer between the parklet and the street. We enjoyed co-hosting this event with our partners Denver Downtown Partnership and Denver Community Active Living Coalition!
Overall, Park(ing) Day 2022 was not only fun and engaging, it also created space for the true essence of people-friendly public streets and exemplified how transformative street activation can be. We look forward to expanding our Park(ing) Day event next year—so stay tuned!