Park(ing) Day
We have hosted PARK(ing) Day Nashville for over a decade!
PARK(ing) Day is a global, public, participatory art and design project which started in San Francisco in 2005. It is a day where people across the globe temporarily repurpose street parking spaces into tiny parks and places for art, play, and activism. PARK(ing) Day is the third weekend in September.
Transforming Parking Spots into Parks
The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of the human habitat… at least until the meter runs out!
Since Rebar, a design studio in San Francisco, kicked off the event in 2005, PARK(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement, with organizations and individuals following an established set of guidelines to create new forms of public space in communities around the world.
Our motivation for hosting PARK(ing) Day over the years has evolved from a creative demonstration to a devoted commitment to reclaiming public space for pedestrians in Nashville permanently.
Through the Years
2013-2017: PARK(ing) Day expands throughout Downtown with added focus on 5th Ave as “Avenue of the Arts” and Historic 2nd Ave.
2020-2022: The 2nd Ave Bomb, COVID-19, and the rising housing crisis spurred unique iterations of PARK(ing) Day.
2019: Activated Anne Dallas Dudley Blvd to build awareness for saving Church Street Park. 3rd Ave saw its first pop-up bike lane.
2012: The Inaugural PARK(ing) Day Nashville focused on activating Lower Broadway.
2018: Sidewalks on Lower Broadway were expanded by Metro Public Works
2023: The first permanent parklet was built.
2012
Our former Design Director, Ron Yearwood, is responsible for organizing the first PARK(ing) Day Nashville, which boasted a total of 14 participants. A special thanks goes to Nashville Downtown Partnership and Metro Public Works for supporting and enhancing the inaugural event.
2013
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2015
Over the next few years, PARK(ing) Day Nashville expanded greatly—both across Downtown and with the number of participants. Dozens more design firms came on to participate and showcase their creativity through unique pop-up parks, games, music stages, photo booths, and so much more. We launched the “Golden Cone Awards” where participants were awarded for different design components, and creatives became devoted to the competition.
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Downtown
Broadway
Tuck Hinton
Vanderbilt Design For America
Skanska
Moody Nolan
Metro Planning
Metro Arts
MPO
Margaritaville
USGBC
Lose + Associates
Nashville Grown
Little John Engineering
Land Trust for TN
Brian Phelps
Hawkins + Partners
MTA YTP
MTA
5th Avenue North
Downtown Partnership
Cummins Station
AIA COTE, Kimley Horn and Associates, Inc.
Smith Gee
Hodgson + Douglas
2nd Avenue North
NCDC
Van Pond Architects
Green Hills
The Green Hills Traffic Partners
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Broadway
Tuck Hinton Architects
ACE Mentoring Team 5, MBA + FRHS
My Gnome on the Roam
Turnip Green Creative Reuse
Metro Planning Department
AIA COTE
Kimley-Horn & Associates
Pop Cause + Wonderland Museum
Dreams Unlimited
RPM Transportation Consultants
Kennon Calhoun Workshop
Land Trust for TN
The Garden Club of Nashville
Hawkins Partners, Inc.
NATIVE
Bike(ing) spot
Hastings Architecture Associates
Pfeffer Torode Architecture
5th Avenue North
The Downtown Partnership
Blue Coast Burrito
Gobbell Hays Partners
Gresham Smith & Partners
Frothy Monkey
Humanities Tennessee
2nd Avenue North
Civic Design Center
NCDC Young Urbanists
Creative Mornings Nashville
Cummins Station/10th Avenue South
Avenue Bank
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Broadway
Tuck Hinton Architects
ACE Mentoring Team 5, MBA + FRHS
My Gnome on the Roam
Turnip Green Creative Reuse
Metro Planning Department
AIA CO
Kimley-Horn & Associates
Pop Cause + Wonderland Museum
Dreams Unlimited
RPM Transportation Consultants
Kennon Calhoun Workshop
Land Trust for TN
The Garden Club of Nashville
Hawkins Partners, Inc.
NATIVE
Walk/Bike Nashville
Hastings Architecture Associates
Pfeffer Torode Architecture
5th Avenue North
The Downtown Partnership
Blue Coast Burrito
Gobbell Hays Partners
Gresham Smith & Partners
Frothy Monkey
Humanities Tennessee
2nd Avenue North
Civic Design Center
NCDC Young Urbanists
Creative Mornings Nashville
The Gulch
ESa
2016
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2018
At this point in its tenure, PARK(ing) Day has become something of a tradition in Nashville. Creative installations continue to blossom and advocacy for permanent change starts to take shape. Nashville hires Gehl People to consult on a Public Life Study for Downtown, and a longterm intervention is tested in 2016. Advocacy officially pays off when Metro Public Works begins the sidewalk expansion on Lower Broadway in 2018.
2019
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2021
PARK(ing) Days during this period focused mainly on activating Anne Dallas Dudley Blvd adjacent to Church Street Park and 2nd Ave N, although social distancing influenced widening our scope beyond Downtown. A partnership with Mars Petcare in 2019 implemented the first “Bark”let on 2nd Ave N with a beautifully built parklet catering to both people and their four-legged friends. Although the Christmas Day Bomb in 2020 destroyed the barklet, the entire process for redesigning and recovering 2nd Ave brought about the desire for more outdoor patio options for business owners. The new 2nd Ave N will be reclaiming much of its existing parking for widened sidewalks and outdoor dining. Following our advocacy, Church Street Park launched an activation plan to help protect the Downtown pocket park and provide amenities for all walks of life.
In 2021, we experimented with facilitating partnerships for longterm parklets due to the flexibility of the Sidewalk Cafe Permit during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Read more on the blog…
2022
PARK(ing) Day as a tool for advocacy has been a time-honored tradition, but in 2022, we took it to another level. Architects have the unique skills to demonstrate innovative design solutions for major needs like transitional and affordable housing projects, but rarely have the opportunity to explore the ideas.
Following a state law being passed that criminalized camping in public space, we decided on a theme for PARK(ing) Day, “Housing as a Public Right.” We recruited a number of housing and homelessness experts to create prompts to inspire parklet builders and the result was inspiring. Read the blog to get the full story…
2023
Sometimes seeing is believing when it comes to urban design changes, and temporary parklets don’t get in front of enough eyes. With the new and improved Parklet Permit and Tactical Urbanism Permit under the Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT), we hope to encourage more community members and business owners to transform street parking into more usable space permanently.
In 2023, we partnered with NDOT and Hoar Construction to launch our first Parklet Design Competition. We asked designers to submit concepts for a parklet for Wilburn Street Tavern, and Barge Design Solutions was our winner! Hoar donated time and materials to help us build the first ever permanent parklet in Nashville through the new system. Read more about the process here…
Photo by Andrew Keithly Photgraphy
2024
Our 2nd year facilitating a Parklet Design Competition and Block Party Celebration was a huge success. We partnered with Hardaway Construction whose team donated time and materials to bring the winning design to life for Bagelshop in Donelson. The winning design was created by Katie Pennington of EOA Architects and unveiled during the PARK(ing) Day Block Party, which featured over 20 local vendors, live music, games and special remarks from Mayor Freddie O'Connell. The Donelson community is thrilled with their new neighborhood parklet.