A history of parklets

We need more green spaces in our cities to clean our air, cool us down and tackle climate change. One solution to greening our cities are parklets. A parklet is an old parking space that has been transformed into something for people to enjoy. They come in all shapes and sizes, can bring communities together, and provide some much-needed local green space.

We know parklets are a fantastic way to make our cities greener, so let’s have a look into how they began and how they’ve come to be community spaces in cities across the UK.

2005: The beginnings

Rebar, an art and design group, set up the first ever parklet in San Francisco, 2005. They paid for parking for the day and set up their parklet, consisting of some grass turf, seating and a potted tree. Once their parking ticket expired they packed up and went home. A photo of this simple parklet was uploaded online and caught the attention of many people across the world and got people talking about how public space is used.

This idea was so popular, Rebar received requests from people around the world asking for advice on how to create their own parklet and led to them creating Park(ing) Day, an annual event for people across the world to set up their own parklets for the day.

2006: Park(ing) Day goes global

In 2006, the first ever Park(ing) Day took place and was celebrated in 13 different cities across three countries. Year on year the number of people taking part grew to hundreds from various cities around the world, including cities in the UK!

2015: The UK’s first official parklet arrives in London

The UK’s first official parklet backed by a council, arrived in 2015. Inspired by the parklets across the pond in San Francisco, the parklet was built in Hackney through the collaboration of Hackney Council, Sustrans and Cyclehoop. The parklet occupied a redundant loading bay and consisted of bike stands, benches, planters and solar powered lighting. The parklet proved to be popular amongst the walkers and cyclists of Hackney, providing them a place to relax and chat with friends.

Photo: Cyclehoop - The UK’s first official parklet in Hackney, London

2015: Local Bristol residents take action to take control of their streets

During the year Bristol was the European Green Capital, walking and cycling charity, Sustrans, worked with local residents of Stonebridge Park to develop and pilot a temporary parklet on their street. A survey was conducted to see how traffic had changed on the street after the installation of the parklet and they found that people who used the street as a regular rat run now avoided it. So the parklet was made permanent and you can still find it there today!

2017: A local Londoner makes permanent change in Hackney

Unable to apply for a parking permit for the use of anything else other than a car, Living Streets campaigner, Brenda Puech decided to take things into her own hands and created her own parklet named the “People’s Parking Bay” on the streets of Hackney.

The parklet, although simple, proved to be immensely popular, with visitors filling up several guest books with supportive messages. That was until the council served her a removal notice, which she appealed. Brenda started a petition calling on the Mayor to let the Peoples Parking Bay stay, which was signed by hundreds of people.

Photo: Brenda Puech - The People’s Parking Bay in Hackney London

Unfortunately, the council ordered for the parklet to be removed, drawing a lot of attention on social media on the topic of parklets. Support for parklets in Hackney grew so much that within a year, Hackney Council launched an online application system for community parklets, the first local authority in the UK to do so!

Brenda’s story goes to show the power of a bottom-up community orientated approach on making lasting change to the use of street space.

2017 onwards: Parklets begin popping up in major towns and cities across the UK

Over the last several years, parklets have been popping up in different cities throughout the UK. Some were temporary installations and some have become permanent fixtures.

2020: The COVID pandemic brings more parklets to high streets across the UK

The pandemic has brought about some big changes, especially the ways in which shops and restaurants have had to adapt to using outdoor space.

With social distancing measures in place, many hospitality businesses needed to find a new way to bring about more seating capacity. Parklets are a solution to these changes, leading to a rise in the number of them in town centres across the UK.

What you can do

Parklets are key to greening our towns and cities, bringing communities together and tackling climate change. There are so many things we can do to get more of them on our streets.

Design Your Own Parklet. Use our handy Design Your Own Parklet tool and share your designs with others to get people talking about them.
Get talking about parklets. Chat to your friends, family, classmates, colleagues, and neighbours about parklets. Where could your neighbourhood put one? What would it look like?
Ask your council to create a simple process which allows local communities and residents to come together and create parklets. Click here to take action.
Check out this parklets toolkit. Living Streets have created a fabulous parklets toolkit - a guide to help you create your very own pop-up park.
Write to your MP and/or councillors. If you think your neighbourhood could benefit from a parklet, tell them!

To learn more about parklets, head over to our parklets page.