In 2009, Transportation Alternatives hosted a “POP.Park” competition. A full description of the competition is below.
Samina Iqbal set up her design, Hex Pack Patio, on Park(ing) Day 2009 at St. Marks and 1st Avenue.
POP.Park Competition
- Call for Submissions
- Purpose
- Awards and POPular Voting
- Judging Criteria
- Important Dates
- Submission Requirements
- Submit your POP.Park
- Notifications
- Eligibility
- Ownership and Copyright
Call for Submissions
In celebration of Park(ing) Day 2009, Transportation Alternatives (T.A.) is hosting a new park(ing) spot competition. We’re bringing Park(ing) Day out of the box by challenging creative types to design a portable and affordable pre-fabricated POP.Park that people can use to reclaim public space each and everyday of the year. POP.Parks will be public spaces produced from readily available, reclaimed or post-consumer recycled materials that will emerge from a regular, cardboard box. POP.Park competition finalists will be invited to construct their prototype on Park(ing) Day 2009 and entries will be judged by POPular text-message voting. The winners will be announced at T.A.’s annual REDUX event and the winning POP.Park prototype will be fabricated and sold on the T.A. website.
POP.Park prototypes should create a relaxing, safe and visually compelling environment for people. POP.Parks must provide physical delineation from traffic and be contextual to the city street environment. Physically, POP.Parks must fold into a box (or reusable bag or tote) that one person can carry while walking or riding public transportation. When assembled, POP.Parks should be no larger than 8′x15′ - the size of a regular car parking spot. The cost of building a POP.Park must not exceed $20.00.
POP.Parks should be easy and fun to reconstruct and recreate over and over again on a neighborhood street. What’s in the box should be the structure - but the instructions can call on the creativity of the user to incorporate other commonly available materials or furniture items. For example, if you weave old socks into a mat for people to sit on in your POP.Park, you don’t necessarily need to include the old socks or the old sock mat in your POP.Park box - rather, you can include “old sock mat” instructions. That said, if you’re asking people to make a mat out of old, stinky socks, it better be an awesome mat and have excellent and fun directions.
Purpose
It’s estimated that 80% of New York City’s public space is made up of our streets and sidewalks. With less than half of New Yorkers owning cars, it only makes sense that these streets are allocated for the maximum benefit of the public. That is, more space for people and less space for cars.
For the past two years, Park(ing) Day Park Builders proved that this shift can happen one 8′x15′ parking spot at time. Answering the age old call, “Whose Streets? Our Streets!”, the POP.Park Competition will transform Park(ing) Day NYC from a once-a-year act of reclamation to an everyday statement. The winning submission — transportable, affordable and easy to use–will add the immediate potential of public space to every block, every day of the year.
Awards and POPular Voting
To facilitate the reclamation of street space for people all year long, the winning prototype will be fabricated and available for sale in T.A.’s online giftshop.
Transportation Alternatives will judge the submissions to arrive at a list of finalists. In addition, final submissions will be judged by some of the best/worst critics in the world: New Yorkers. On DATE, passers-by will send in their POPular vote via text-message.
Judging Criteria
- Accessibility (ease for people of all ages, sizes, and genders to enter and use the space)
- Ease of Assembly, Adaptability and Re-creation (ease of “pop-up” installation, re-packaging, and ability for people to find necessary materials to make the structure if they are not included)
- Connectivity (the space welcomes people in and relates to the human scale)
- Comfort (once you’re there, do you want to stay)
- Safety (space is clearly demarcated from traffic)
- Cost (can the item be re-produced for $20.00 or less)
Important Dates
- Wednesday July 22, 5pm Eastern Standard Time (EST): Call for Submissions Released.
- Tuesday September 1, Submission Deadline: Transportation Alternatives will acquire necessary permits for spaces. For this reason, submissions can not be accepted after this date.
- Friday September 18, Park(ing) Day: POP.Park prototype installation (pop it up!)
- Friday September 18, All Day: Park(ing) Day! Spaces throughout the city
- Date TBD: Park(ing) Day REDUX
Submission Requirements
- Fits into an easily transportable box that one person can carry, walk with, bike with, take on public transportation, and store easily inside a NYC apartment.
- Is not larger than an 8×15 foot parking space when fully installed. The bigger, the better.
- Is transparent, easily accessible, and visible to the public (For example, a 4-walled, all enclosed tent will not be accepted).
- Demarcates the space from traffic and clearly occupies the space.
- Attracts people to the space.
- Is free of electrical or utility hook-ups.
- Costs less than $20.00 to produce (e.g. excluding labor).
- Has been mocked-up and tested.
Submit your POP.Park
- Download and complete an application
- Send-it in
- Email submissions to POPPark@parkingdaynyc.org by September 1, 2009. Subject: Last Name_First Name_Date
- Include:
- Completed Submission Form
- Five (5) images of a constructed POP.Park prototype (JPG files under 500kb):
- The POP.Park storage box
- The POP.Park storage box next to a person (for scale)
- Storage box and unassembled POP.Park (outside of box)
- Photo of POP.Park prototype I
- Photo of POP.Park prototype II
- Materials list, including what was used, where it can be purchased
- Materials budget - must total less than $20
- Entries can be submitted by individuals or by team/partners
Notification
All participants will be notified of their running in the competition by September 9, 2009. Finalists will be invited to “pop-up” their prototypes on Park(ing) Day 2009 (September 18th) and will be required to inhabit their POP.Park while POPular voting goes on throughout the day.
Eligibility
Everyone–except for Transportation Alternatives’ and The Open Planning Project’s terrific staff, Board of Directors and Advisory Council Members–are welcome and encouraged to participate.
Ownership and Copyright
All materials, irrespective of format, produced in conjunction with and/or submission to the POP.Park Competition become the sole property of Transportation Alternatives. To this end, said materials may be retained by Transportation Alternatives for archival purposes, exhibition, publication, and promotion. Each contestant will retain full copyright of all materials to the greatest extent of the law unless otherwise assigned.
By Abenson on July 20th, 2010.
Filed under: Announcements, News, Park(ing) Day Updates
Tags: parking day, parking spot, parkingdaynyc, Public Space, reclaim the streets —
By jday on November 20th, 2009.
Filed under: 
By Lindsey Lusher Shute on September 20th, 2009.
Filed under: 
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.
