Animated version of Packard Jennings’ illustration of the growth of parklet-style spaces in San Francisco. From San Francisco has a long history of creating tactical experiments to reclaim its city streets. These efforts began with Bonnie Ora Sherk’s portable parks in the 1970s, exploded with the creation of the first Park(ing) Day by the design collective Rebar in 2005, and seeded the city’s Parklet and Shared Spaces programs today. Reclaiming city streets is a critical part of reducing transportation emissions and creating public spaces for people. Since the COVID pandemic hit and shelter in place orders were issued in San Francisco, city-run programs slowed and closed streets resulting in nearly thirty corridors across the city that have been converted to roadways that prioritize walking and biking. In 2019, the city’s shared spaces program included just 76 parkets, but by February 2022, the San Francisco Planning Department tallied over 2,080. This video animates of Packard Jennings illustration of the growth of Parklets in Alison Sant’s book, From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities (Island Press, 2022).
By Packard Jennings
