Landscape Architecture Students Convert Dickson Street Parking Space Into Temporary 'Parklet'

Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design

A parking spot outside Blackboard Grocery and Eatery on Dickson Street will be transformed into a miniature park Sept. 21 for Park(ing) Day.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Landscape architecture students in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas are working with community members to reinvent a metered parking space as a temporary community park. One parking spot outside Blackboard Grocery and Eatery, at 644 W. Dickson St., will be transformed into a miniature park, or "parklet," on Friday, Sept. 21.

The parklet will be set up from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday as part of Park(ing) Day 2018.

The parklet was designed by the U of A student chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Friday's event is being led by ASLA officers. The one-day parklet will be set up next to a permanent parklet that the students designed for Park(ing) Day 2017.

Park(ing) Day started in downtown San Francisco in 2005, when the San Francisco art and design studio Rebar transformed a single metered parking space into a temporary park. The day has since expanded into a global movement, and it occurs on the third Friday in September. The project's mission is to call attention to the need for open spaces in urban areas, generate discussions about how public space is used, and improve the quality of urban landscapes. The event, which is held on the third Friday of September each year, challenges existing notions of public space in urban areas and urges individuals to reinvent the space to meet specific community needs. 

This is the fourth year that the university's ASLA students have participated in the Park(ing) Day project, each time on Dickson Street.