I was recently lucky enough to make it to San Francisco after an epic cycle ride from Portland. As usual when I find myself in new cities I am most interested in exploring the streets and spaces I find, observing how space is used and how people interact at the street level.
San Francisco is the home of the parklet and I enjoyed going out to spot these well designed spaces all around the city, slowly succeeding in transforming car parking spaces into people places. All parklets are open to the public and are funded by community groups, local businesses, even residents in some cases while collaborating City agencies organise permissions and ongoing maintenance.
It was great to see the parklets being used by lots of different people for different purposes, spurring a level of street activity that couldn't be achieved within the constraints of a regular pavement. Whilst pavements provide for a high level of pedestrian movement it is unusual for there to be any space left for any 'place function'. The parklet is the perfect answer; people are able to sit down and eat, chat, drink coffee on the seating and benches, lock their bikes to bike stands and enjoy luscious, green planting as they relax. I even saw one parklet being used as a meeting point for a group of new mums. Very simple but very effective, proving Fred Kent's point:
"When you plan for people and places, you get people and places!"
