City of Orlando Parking Space Take Over at City Hall

Photo Credit: TheDailyCity.com Mobile Art Show #9 | Parking Space TakeOver

The concept of parking space take overs has been around for years across the country. Here are two examples from San Francisco and Los Angeles if you're unfamiliar with the concept. 

Basically, you do something with a parallel parking space in a dense urban setting. What do you do? Anything but park a car there. You can lay down grass, put up a few potted trees and a bench and have yourself a little park. Whatever. It shows how much space one parking lot takes up and what else you could be doing with that space. 

Do you remember on May 20, 2010 when we took over a parking space in downtown Orlando as part of our monthly event, TheDailyCity.com Mobile Art Show? It was at the corner of Orange and Pine and included a roll of green astro turf, 8 lawn chairs, 20 touch lights, 20 safety cones, three end tables and over 200 prints we were giving away for free by local artists. That was a fun event. Folks got out of their cars while stopped at the red light to sit down and experience it. See for yourself in the video below. 

We are excited to share that three years later, some downtown design firms, the City of Orlando's Transportation Planning Division and the Families, Parks and Recreation Department is doing it bigger and better than we ever could with their own event called One Less Car, One More Park.

Join Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer on Friday, January 11 from 9:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. in front of City Hall as Downtown design firms re-imagine parking spaces into active green spaces. Relax in a reading garden, experience the arts and learn how to start your own garden, all from a parking space! Creativity will be recognized with a voters choice award. So come early, vote on your favorite space and learn more about local transit options.

Watch a video of our 2010 event to get an idea of the concept: