ESLC’s Center for Towns Hosts Park(ing) Day in Easton
Easton, Maryland – September 7, 2012 – Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s Center for Towns will participate Friday, Sept. 21, in PARK(ing) Day, an annual event held in cities around the world in which artists, activists and community members temporarily transform metered parking spaces into public parks and other social spaces.
ESLC staff and volunteers will create a park in a parking space across from the Talbot County Courthouse. A workshop to design the temporary parklet will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, at Rise Up Coffee Roasters on Dover Street.
Originally invented in 2005 by Rebar, a San Francisco-based art and design studio, PARK(ing) Day challenges people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure. “In urban centers around the world, inexpensive curbside parking results in increased traffic, wasted fuel and more pollution,” says Rebar’s Matthew Passmore. “The planning 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.”
PARK(ing) Day is an “open-source” user-generated invention created 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. A global map of all participating cities are available on the PARK(ing) Day website, at parkingday.org.