Friday, June 1, 2012

PAVEMENT TO PARKS








In the past few years San Francisco has helped pioneer the concept of Pavement to Parks, where excess vehicle space is transformed into people space. 

In LA they are calling it Streets For People. It works great there too.




Castro Commons at 17th and Castro Streets.
The first of these at Castro and 17th Street transformed that intersection into a vital pedestrian space. Originally built in a month with  a super low budget this has become a permanent park and is being upgraded with more robust materials.


This first success has been followed by other spaces such as Guerrero Park on San Jose Avenue and Showplace triangle where 8th and 16th streets meet.


There are several opportunities on Second Street for this sort of pedestrian space.

{1} South Park Gateway
{2} Harrison Chute Parklet
{3} Market Street Plaza

We'll get into these potential public spaces in future posts.


Guerrero Park calms a nasty stretch of San Jose Avenue





Castro Commons is always populated by people enjoying the City.























The Planning Department has a great web page on this program: http://sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/



1 comment:

  1. Your three suggestions for pavement to parks are great. The Harrison Chute parklet, especially, could be a phenomenal addition to Second Street. It could turn a fatally dangerous intersection into a habitable pedestrian space. I'm looking forward to hearing more about these three opportunities.

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