Parks Week, PARK(ing) Day and Parklets

Parks Week (3-10 March) brings trans-Tasman co-operation to the fore and a timely reminder of a change in season from summer to autumn.

The week is jointly promoted by Recreation Aotearoa and Parks & Leisure Australia as a celebration of the vital role parks and open spaces play in creating liveable places and thriving communities.

Events occurring during the week include a speaker breakfast organised by the Southland/Otago Regional Committee of Recreation Aotearoa and the Generate Network.

Featuring Megan Harshey, a principal landscape architect with Boffa Miskell, this will take place on 10 March in Tāhuna Queenstown. Megan will join Samantha Strong of Thrive Spaces and Places in a panel discussion about their experiences of the parks, recreation and sports industry sector.

Some of the council-driven Parks Week 2025 activities happening around the motu spotted by LAA, include:

Whiria Ngā Tāngata - Weave the people together - was Te Motu Kairangi’s contribution to PARK(ing) Day on 27 February (Photos: Stephen Olsen)

PARK(ing) DAY IN TE WHANGANUI A TARA

PARK[ing] Day provides a different spin on parks, by turning over 5.3 x 1.8 metre parking spots on city streets to be transformed into temporary public '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 used, created and allocated, and to improve the quality of our shared urban human habitat … at least until the meter runs out! 

The event owes its origins to the tactical urbanism of REBAR, a San Francisco art and design collective and interdisciplinary studio that closed its doors in 2014. Usually held in the northern hemisphere in September, PARK(ing) Day has grown since its inception in 2005 into a global open-source event that brings about a collaborative burst of imaginative installations.

The Giant Colouring In Wall by Brick and Water Creative.

Wellington's 2025 edition of PARK[ing] Day took place on Saturday 27 February. It has been happening annually now for more than a decade - thanks to the Wellington Sculpture Trust aided by strong support from organisations such as the Creative Creative Capital Arts Trust and Wellington City Council (WCC).

Jane Black, an urban planning consultant who headed urban design at WCC between 2002-07, took up the position of chair of the Wellington Sculpture Trust in June 2024 - in time to head the seeking of proposals for PARK(ing) Day 2025.

The Trust has been active now for more than 40 years. Its chair from 2013 to 2024 was Sue Elliott, who had served as a trustee for 11 years before that and remains on the trust board. In a media statement released prior to handing over to Jane, Sue commented on the wonderful experience of "working with so many artists, donors, Mayors, Councillors and Council staff, fabricators, landscape architects, our arts advisers, and many others to add to the wealth of public art in Wellington City".

Participants in PARK(ing) Day deliver a carnival-like array of temporary creative expression of all kinds, along with providing opportunities for discussion of thought-provoking ideas and topical issues.

As an example of thought provocation, two PhD researchers from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University were given an opportunity to utilise their parking spots to survey Cuba Street passersby: Megan Milano who is in the early phase of collecting data on the responses of rangatahi to public spaces; and Arden Callagher who is focused on community-created housing and used her allocated space to represent a 'living room'.

Robin Simpson, a former Director of the Landscape Architecture programme at Victoria University who now runs her own company, got behind the occasion of PARK(ing) Day to champion micro-forests in a site installation called Tiny Forest.

Jane Black: "A strength of the day is the sheer range and diversity of the 'happenings' held on each of those confined car park spaces. It's a day that brings vibrancy, vitality and creativity to one of Wellington’s favourite streets. The closeness of the participants to their audience allows a really interactive engagement".

See also:

WCC’S PUSH ON PARKLETS

As another sign of what be called 'reclaiming the streets' Wellington City Council has been conducting a concerted push on Parklets.

Parklets are defined by the council as a small public space created by converting on-street car parks into outdoor dining or seating areas, using materials and structures that could be easily removed if required". They provide "usable space in areas where footpaths are too narrow to accommodate outdoor dining or seating. They support local businesses by providing additional space and opportunities for outdoor dining".

The Council has published a Parklet Design Guide [PDF link] to help to enable permit applications.

Editor’s note: If you have reflective thoughts or feedback to share about Parks Week, PARK(ing) Day or Parklets please email laaotearoa@nzila.co.nz

Events, Parks, People, Tactical UrbanismStephen Olsen