Parking spots will be transformed into public spaces Friday in Fort Lauderdale.
Cadence, a planning and landscape architecture firm, will transform parking spots into temporary parks on Sept. 19. (Cadence/Courtesy / September 18, 2014)
By Barbara Corbellini Duarte, SouthFlorida.com
Motorists often complain about the lack of parking on the streets of Fort Lauderdale. Yet metered parking spots abound in the city, particularly along major streets.
That's why Cadence, a local planning and landscape architecture firm, on Friday, Sept. 19, is hosting the fourth PARK(ing) Day in Fort Lauderdale. The firm will transform two parking spaces at FAT Village and transform them into urban spaces for pedestrians.
"City streets are far more than just cars, and more than, 'How many cars can we park?' " says Rebecca Bradley, co-founder and principal of Cadence. "There are so many in-between spaces that could be designed better, and lots of intermediate stops that makes a city much more enjoyable."
PARK(ing) Day began in San Francisco in 2005, when an art and design studio transformed a metered space into a temporary public park. Since then, the event has been replicated in cities across the country to demonstrate the benefits of public spaces.
"This is actually something that people can experience and understand clearly what you're talking about," Bradley says. "I think it's really important for people to understand green space. It doesn't have to just be a park. It can be a sitting area. Even on a sidewalk, you can make that nice, put some sort of trees and seating, and people will stay and sit."
Cadence's installations will appear Friday, Sept. 19, at Northwest Fifth Street and North Andrews Avenue. Go to Cadence-Living.com.
bduarte@sunsentinel.com, @babicorb or 954-356-4710
There is also a parklet set up today on the south side of Fort Lauderdale’s City Hall and a “permanent” one on the north side.
