Wondering if there is a space in NYC where you can build Lego models, watch live painting and performance art, and sit and relax beneath the Highline? This space can exist, and did for one day - Park(ing) Day – thanks to No Longer Empty, an arts organization utilizing non-traditional places for presenting visual and performance art.

Check out the video documenting their day engaging passers-by of all ages and turning a boring parking spot into a lively interactive art space -

Park(ing) Day NYC 2009 was fun, light, playful and still the best pro-public space rally of the year!

In the coming days, we’ll be inviting park organizers to share their experiences, but until then we hope the following media will hold you:

NY1’s TV news coverage

New York Times Dot Earth Blog

New York Daily News

The Village Voice’s Runnin’ Scared blog

The Lo-Down

Columbia Spectator

CBS6 (WRGB - Albany)

Brownstoner

Curbed

Gothamist post-post

Gothamist post

Gothamist pre-post

Bike Blog NYC

And the indefatigable Street Films:

Thanks to everyone for participating and showing the City and its citizens the potential of our public space.

Along with 51 new parks, T.A. is also very proud to announce the winner for our POP.Park competition!

The POP.Park competition –to build a park inside a box for less than $20–was swept by Samina Iqbal.

Iqbal’s entry, built from 2 and 3-ply cardboard and painted for waterproofness, was clever, modern and light as a few birds (12 lb.). Like an Ikea anything, the HEX PACK PATIO starts flat in many pieces and can be easily assembled by following simple directions. Disassembling the HEX PACK PATIO is just as easy and it can be thrown under a bed or in a closet for storage.

When the HEX PACK PATIO is fully assembled it fills an average size parking space with attractive stools and tables that can be arranged and rearranged. As shown in Iqbal’s photo, the stools can also extra furniture for the spare apartment

The POP.Park Competition’s runner up was the Hen Park, straight from Switzerland. This conceptual entry merged two issues that are near and dear to many of us–transportation and food security. By highlighting the small amount of space required to keep a chicken (less room than a parking spot) and the low cost and high yield of that chicken, the Verzone Woods Architects reminded city dwellers that providing a bit more room for chickens will help the humans in the end.

Once again congratulations to both Samina and Verzone Woods! Both entries will be displayed today: the HEX PACK PATIO will be at Idealist.org’s park(ing) space Idea Swap and a prototype of the Hen Park (minus the mountains) will be up at the park(ing) space built by the Community Gardens of Brooklyn.

Park(ing) Day NYC: to-do-to-do

Let’s rock peoples’ minds and inspire them to re-envision their streets!  The following guidelines will help you do just that and make Park(ing) Day NYC stress-free, fun, well-documented, conscientious and connected:

1. Bring your required materials

In addition to the materials you’re using for your spot, you must have the following at your park:

1. Street Activity Permit (to show NYPD or anyone else questioning your space’s legality—also very useful for asking car idlers to move and let you park-it)

1. Official Sign (so people know this is a public space that they can participate in)

1. Park(ing) Day NYC Maps (listing all the spots in the City – for you to distribute)

**Pick up these required materials at T.A.’s office—127 W. 26^th Street (between 6^th and 7^th Avenues), 10^th Floor—TODAY, September 17^th, from 8am-7pm.***

2. Keep it legal

Make sure your spot is in a legal parking space. “Spots” can not be in places that impede other people’s way or put visitors in danger: no crosswalks, bike lanes, fire hydrants, driveways, no standing anytime zones and bus stops.

3. Document your hard work, your ingenious creation and the experience of passers-by!

1. Photos: Take a bunch throughout the day, and upload to your account at parkingdaynyc.org and tag more with “parkingdaynyc” on Flickr. There’s also a Park(ing) Day NYC Flickr group that you can join and add photos to.
2. Tweet, tweet!: Send your park(ing) spots status updates via text message to nvfxtj(at)twittermail(dot)com. You can also receive text message parkingdaynyc twitter updates from other spots by signing up for a Twitter account online.
3. Video: Can you take some? Please send us your digital files and upload to YouTube after the event.  Cell phone, digital camera or flip camera quality is perfect.
4. The Blog: Send us write-ups about your spot and the planning process, or exciting occurrences throughout the day to info(at)parkingdaynyc.org .

4. Leave No Trace

This saying has just as much sway in our urban environment as it does when hiking in the rural wilderness.  Please collect or discard any trash or items left in your spot at the end of the day.

Columbia Green Builders are putting bland basketball to bed on Friday. In their park(ing) spot across from the University, they’ll be remixing the age old sport with their green philosophy. Here’s the update:

The Green Builders at Columbia had a great kickoff meeting and design charrette on Saturday and now planning and construction is moving full speed ahead!

The concept for our park is a NYC basketball court re-envisioned green builder style.  The basketball hoop will be a toilet, the ball will be water balloons, and the court floor will be planted with our favorite foliage.
We’ll teach visitors about grey water treatment, composting, and recycling - all while shooting hoops.  Our materials will be reused, repurposed, recycled, renewable, and our message will be clear: Build Green!

Carlos A. Martinez and participants from Stone Soup Park will be taking photos and collecting community members’ stories on Park(ing) Day. The photo project goes by the name of “Photo Booth Without Borders” and here’s the update they sent:

As a 2009 participant in The Laundormat project’s Create Change program, Carlos Martinez invites Jackson Heights neighbors and visitors to visually and verbally record their personal journeys as human beings, as New Yorkers, as immigrants to celebrate diversity.

People will share their stories using a portable photo booth-meets-confessional stationed at different laundromats in one of the most diverse neighborhood in the United States. After interacting inside the photo booth with the artist and the backdrops, including a world map and a calling card mosaic, participants will receive free instant photographs in exchange for sharing their story.

This project welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to build a sense of community through storytelling. In order to make Jackson Heights a livable community, this installation is allowing long-term residents, newcomers and visitors to connect while valuing the past and cherishing the present.

The Photo Booth Without Borders will be participating in Park(ing) Day on September 18th 2009 — the annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.

And here’s the vid!

The Photo Booth Without Borders from Carlos Martinez on Vimeo.

Here’s an update on Stone Soup Park from Cristina in Queens:

“I named the spot, Stone Soup Park, after the fable where each person brings an ingredient, and all get to enjoy a nice soup. The TA Queens Committee, along with the Friends of Travers Park, Green maps, and a handful of neighborhood businesses will make up the “stock”. We will have games and bubbles for kids, much needed park benches, greenery, and Tango music- which will begin at 5PM.
A photobooth, will be available for free pictures, and will also be used as part of a National Art exhibit about communities surrounding Laundrymats. (we are outside the Aqua Clara Laundrymat on 37th Ave between 78th and 79th St.)

I am really pleased to be spearheading the only Park(ing) Day spot in Queens! Jackson Heights is a dynamic neighborhood, which is experiencing an influx of new families who want to raise their kids in a friendly, healthy environment. However, this area at the  bottom of the list for Parks Department Parks. We have just a few, none with grass, and all completely overcrowded. Our Park will be the first networking effort to highlight the Green Agenda for Jackson Heights.”

Here’s an update on what our friends are planning over at Sustainable Flatbush!

“Ever wonder what our community could do with 120 square feet of outdoor space? Bring friends and family along to find out as Sustainable Flatbush hosts our 3^rd annual Park(ing) Day event on Friday, September 18th, from 9am until 6pm.

To raise awareness of how public space is allocated in our neighborhood, we will transform an unremarkable parking spot into “Cortelyou Road Park”: an urban oasis with grass, lawn chairs, music, art supplies, games, and good conversation for all to enjoy, at the corner of Cortelyou and Argyle Roads, in front of the Public Library.

Two sustainable craft businesses based in the NYC area - Garbage of Eden Design and RePlayGround - will teach free creative workshops on fashioning fun stuff out of garbage. We invite you to bring your favorite empty cereal box or designed scrap paper to personalize your crafts. Jewelry made from plastic bags and yogurt containers as well as kits to make projects from scrap will be on display. You could even win a food gift basket from the Flatbush Food Coop, which is also graciously providing free snacks throughout the day! Join us for this international event at the level of our local neighborhood. Meet your neighbors and those working within our community who strive to make it a more livable place.”

Last year’s event was a great success. This year we plan to outdo it with:

* A special Puppet Show featuring the juggling egg puppet by Ronny starting at 11am
* Craft workshops by Garbage of Eden Design and RePlayGround
* A worm composting demonstration by a Brooklyn Botanic Garden Master Composter
* A solar-powered cell phone charging station
* BYO Mug Coffee Station, courtesy of Vox Pop Cafe

So bring your own mug and don’t miss the daylong fun!

WHAT: Park(ing) Day / Cortelyou Road Park
WHEN: Friday, September 18th from 9am until 6pm
WHERE: Corner of Cortelyou and Argyle Road, Brooklyn NY

This Friday, Shakespearean readings, public space activism and green design will mesh once again on 9th Avenue at 60th Street. Fordham College professors and students are teaming up to produce the second season of Lincoln Center’s “Shakespeare in the Park(ing Spot)”.

The park(ing) installation is a collaboration between Prof. Chad McArver’s Theatre Design class,  Prof. Michael Fishman’s Environmental Design class, and professors Sandra McKee and Colin Cathcart’s Architectural Design class. Freshman drama students will also help out with Shakespearean readings.

Prof. Cathcart sent this spot update to Park(ing) headquarters:

“Materials will be scrounged from Fordham’s Facilities/Operations Department and Prof. McKee’s japanese roof garden.  Professors Sandra McKee and Colin Cathcart’s Architectural Design class will be constructing cardboard chairs for a small audience.  Fordham’s freshman acting students (Professors Matthew Maguire and Elizabeth Margid) will be staging readings of Shakespeare, to the general amusement of the design students in attendance, and interested passersby.”

Cathcart promises a selection of “gory and freaky scenes,” and generally sums it up as ”a glorious (and highly educational) mess!”

ugh, is that class full?