MobileParkletMethodsandPracticesReport
Mobile Temporary Parklet
Existing Methods and Practices Report
NOPS
Flora Weil
Sarah Duckett
October 31st, 2016
Design Clinic Project Report
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Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Scope 3
Methodology 4
CASE STUDIES 5
CASE STUDY 1: Curb’d 5
Goals and Background 5
Planning Process and Development 6
Implementation and Maintenance 8
Successes and Challenges 11
CASE STUDY 2: Beyond the Curb 11
Goals and Background 11
Planning Process and Development 12
Design Concepts 15
Conclusion 16
References 17
Appendix A 17
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Introduction
Mobile parklets or small mobile public parks offer the opportunity to create a more
dynamic, interactive, and cooperative structure for cities. The concept of a mobile parklet
involves an easily storable, moveable, and modular mechanism that can convert unused city
spaces into public open space. Mobile parklets intend on helping citizens use streets differently,
encouraging sustainable practices and creating community driven activities. The purpose of this
report is to assemble the best current methods and practices to support the creation of mobile
parklets in urban environments. Through the study of two relevant cases, the design, building,
and impact of mobile temporary parklets is reviewed and summarized. The analysis of these
existing practices will help inform the research and design of the Northampton Mobile Parklet
project proposed by the Northampton Office of Planning and Sustainability.
Scope
The objective of this study is to provide a formal definition of a “mobile parklet”, to
analyze existing projects through case studies, and to give an overview of the technical and
creative tools employed to repurpose cities through parklets. The existing practices reviewed will
be taken from two specific case studies: Curb’d [2] and Beyond the Curb [1] projects. This report
provides an overview of research to construct the initial context of our project. The team
acknowledges that the information included in the report addresses only a limited amount of
aspects.
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Methodology
The method used in this report is to gather information through a number of literature
reviews and two case studies, while paying particular attention to the following areas:
Design considerations
Safety Features
Choice of Location
Description of impact of projects
Each case study is divided into the following sections:
Goals and Background
Planning Process and Development
Implementation and Maintenance
Successes and Challenges
The first case study focuses on the mobility aspect of temporary parklets, while the
second case study analyzes the modular aspect of those parklets. These two major aspects will
serve to inform the conceptual design phase of the Northampton Mobile Parklet project.
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CASE STUDIES
CASE STUDY 1: Curb’d
Goals and Background
Curb’d aims to create immersive public experiences in the area of a parking
space. The organization pairs design teams with businesses in the district of urban Covington.
Walkability, connectivity, and placemaking are values and used to showcase the region’s design
talent through quasi-temporary public installations. Repurposing parking spaces for interactive,
non-passive objectives and activities are central to the organization’s goals. Some examples
include a movie theater (Fig. 1) and public swings (Fig. 2).
(Fig.1)
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(Fig. 2)
Planning Process and Development
The design development of Curb’d projects includes a number of steps aiming to
bring together greater Cincinnati based creatives, fabricating and installing parklets in
Covington’s urban core, and verifying that immersive public experiences are created.
●Design teams express their interest to Curb’d.
●The interested team must attend an informational workshop where they
receive the information needed to develop and submit a completed parklet
design proposal.
●The design proposal is submitted.
●The businesses interested will choose their top proposals.
●The 12 businesses attend a fabrication workshop where they will work
together with design and build experts to refine their parklet proposal.
●Upon completion of final proposals, a panel of experts will choose the top
5 parklet designs, based on originality, community interaction, safety, and
feasibility to move forward with fabrication.
●The majority of costs associated with producing, permitting, and installing
are funded by Curb’d.
●Design constraints of the chosen site must be specified in the final
proposal (including fire hydrants, overhead utilities, lights, trees, signage,
etc.). The final proposal checklist is shown in (Fig. 3)
●The final design checklist must respect the following regulations, as
illustrated in (Fig. 4):
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○Max of 6’ width unless otherwise noted on the business’s fact
sheet.
○Maintain curbline drainage.
○Parklet decking flush curb, ½” gap max.
○4’ distance from parklet to wheel stop.
○3’ wheel stop installed 1’ from curb.
○Reflective soft hit posts.
○Visually permeable outside edge. Railing must be required.
○The parklet should must support 100 lbs./sq. Ft.
○Design should have vertical elements so that it is visible from
vehicles.
(Fig. 3)
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(Fig. 4)
Implementation and Maintenance
After the following design process (Fig. 5) is carried out, the parklet in question is
installed and meant to be maintained for a certain period of time, which varies case by case.
(Fig. 5)
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One example of the implementation can be taken from the finalist of the parklet competition:
“Work A+D”. As described in (Fig. 6), the swing parklet designed by Work A+D, a shipping
container is used to implement mobility and a modular mode of deployment and positioning is
used for customizability. This recess container will be able to be able to be easily packed onto
the back of a truck and hauled to its next location. The design of the parklet is intended to require
little to no maintenance for a one year active placement. Locking casters enable it to be situated
and leveled. The plant used will be a low maintenance ivy with a long life expectancy.
(Fig. 6)
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The use of shipment containers modified to become parklets has become a new method of
moving the installations to new locations and storing them . Made from recycled shipping 1
containers, the parklets are easily transported enabling them to be trialled in various locations.
These shipping containers are often adapted with large open sides or windows, filled with
benches and boxes, giving residents as well as passers-by a place to stop and take in the activities
of the street. The use of shipping containers also fits the repurposing of empty parking spaces,
which are most often the locations of interest for parklets.
Other interesting designs from other projects include an outdoor restaurant seating area extension
in Montréal (Fig. 7), an outdoor art gallery (Fig. 8), and an engaging space for children (Fig. 9).
(Fig. 7)
(Fig. 8)
1 See recent SamA designs of small public spaces for community socialising and greening the street [3] or upcycled
shipping container project in Montréal [4].
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(Fig. 9)
Successes and Challenges
Many of the Curb’d projects present ways of achieving the expected goals of the
Northampton Mobile Parklets project. The various designs entered in the competition are able to
implement:
-Interactivity/public engagement: swings, stage, playground, movie theater, bike exercise
-Mobility : use of shipment containers
-Space: takes up the same area as the Dero parklet and is meant to be installed in unused
parking spaces
-Budget: the amount of resources allocated to the project seem sufficient and manageable
about $150, 000 for the total costs allocated towards 4 parklets.
-Pairing with local businesses: the projects are each correlated to a local business, which
integrates the parklet and allows a good symbiosis with its environment and community.
Nonetheless, on many levels the Curb’d projects present a few challenges that can also be
applied to the Northampton parklet project:
-Modularity: all the parklets presented seem to be made for unique purposes and fail to
implement the total modularity that the Northampton mobile parklet aims for.
-Maintenance: the maintenance of the parklets lack description and seem to disregard
weather hazards.
CASE STUDY 2: Beyond the Curb
Goals and Background
The Beyond The Curb project is a subset of the North Jersey Local Demonstration
Project Program, focusing on improving its Downtown Morristown area (see Appendix A for
map of area). The project proposed to add parklet sidewalk extensions adding new places to the
city for people to “gather, eat and drink, celebrate and create, work, play, and build community.”
Their project specifically proposed four elements to build upon this plan:
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-Facilitate use of parklets to foster a more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly areas of the city,
making the downtown more desirable to community members and guests.
-Incorporate public art and recreational aspects into the area
-Promote these small temporary parks as a tool for economic development
-Finish project with a handbook to easily transfer progress and information to other areas
around New Jersey.
These parklets have been identified as a tool to reactivate the street life and allow for a more
walkable and bikeable. The parklet themselves focused on installations of public seating, art,
plants and other passive recreational elements.
Our team is interested in this case study because one of the pieces of their design process
includes finding the volume of storage space needed for each design. An extension of our project
is combining our Dero parklet with the LSS class idea of a “park-it” trailer, similar to the one
shown in Figure 10. This trailer will be driven around with the Dero to fit all the pieces to be put
on it. One of our design requirements will be to find the volume of storage space needed for the
pieces of our designs and make sure they can be fit into the space in this trailer.
(Figure 10)
Planning Process and Development
The planning process of the Beyond the Curb program involves a series of
community-driven tests and workshops to get a better understanding of what the residents want
before the implementation of anything. This is similar to the steps we are taking in our project
with the APE gallery, community feedback and associated redesign are a large portion of our
design development phase.
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•Implement and refine the program: Communicate with committee members and officials
to set up a program for the parklet .
• Build local support: Make a “Friends of Parklets” group to engage members of the
Community and business owners to promote the benefits of parklets in urban settings.
• Launch a pilot parklet: Find interested businesses to sponsor the parklet and host the
pilot design, demonstrating the possibilities to the community.
• Use interest in parklets to improve other projects: Add more parking spaces as to lose
no net parking with the parklet in a space, and enhance Morris Street to be more bicycle
and pedestrian-friendly.
A more thorough description of this process can be found in Appendix B.
(Figure 11)
The plan for implementation is in regards to the space of two parking spaces, as shown
above. Ours is very similar, but only taking up one parking space, and the area around the site
(including manholes, parking meters, parklet sponsor) would change according to the sites
chosen. Overall, the plan to opening process has three phases: application and selection, design
and agreement, and installation. The installation process is as follows:
1.Applicant must contact the Municipal Engineer to schedule a site inspection within 72
hours before the installation is to begin.
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2.Parklet is put up.
3.Municipal Building Department & Engineer inspect the implementation process to make
sure all construction plans and design requirements are met.
4.Applicant notifies Municipal Engineer the parklet installation is complete.
5.Municipal Building Department & Engineer do final inspection of parklet.
6.Parklet opens
There are multiple design requirements that must be met along the way, as shown in the
Figures below. These are also requirements we must take into account throughout the process of
our design and implementation
(Figure 12)
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Design Concepts
In this report, four of the possible designs are explained. The propositions include a
purpose of the design, a visual model, and storage capability. The storage aspect combines all
modular pieces into the most compact space possible, giving a final volume of storage. This
relates to our project in that we must take this concept and adapt it to the Dero and the pieces
fitting into the park-it trailer.
The designs include:
1)A basic example parklet - Design components include: 3 farm modules, 3 low
planters, 1 bike rack, 3 rail planters, interactive art element, moveable table, and
moveable chairs. Total storage volume = 143 ft3
2)A Community Table Parklet - Demonstrates the opportunity to offer eating as an
act of community gathering. Design components include: 2 collapsible tables, 1
small collapsible table, 6 fixed benches, 1 small fixed bench, and 18 rail planters.
Total storage volume = 384 ft3
3)A relax station parklet - Invites users to “take a moment to catch a breath and take
a break.” Design components include: 4 low planters, 14 high planters, 4 fixed
lounges and 7 rail planters. Total storage volume = 510 ft3
4)A bio bench parklet - Offers a compact, small bench-sized design to increase
plants and greenery in downtown areas. Design components include: 18 high
planters and 2 low planters with bench tops. Considerations: Offseason alternate
locations for planters. Total storage volume = 156 ft3
These designs are shown in the figure below in order. We will take similar steps with our
process to model the proposed designs, give a reason and description for each, and find a setup
that works with a storage volume suitable for the trailer.
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(Figure 13)
Conclusion
The two case studies included in this review represent a large range of recent mobile parklet
practices. The methods employed to implement modularity, mobility, accessibility, and creativity can be
reused in the context of our team’s project. In terms of mobility, the practice examined in this report
focuses on the use of shipping containers as a parklet structure and mechanism of transportation. The
main successes of the shipping container method include effective use of space, upcycling, and relative
ease of mobility. The main challenges pertaining to the Northampton Mobile Parklet project involve
funding, maintenance, and the existence of a Dero platform, which needs to be adapted to the shipping
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container concept. Altogether, the first case study provided a good reference for the development of a
portable small public space in Northampton. The second case study provides a good source of inspiration
and a solid context for the modular requirement of our project’s design. It focuses on the temporary
parklets in parking spaces, as our project does, and catering the designs to the needs of the community.
Another large piece of their process included taking each design and determining the most compact
volume in which it can be stored. This is equivalent to the steps we must take in order to assess our own
design in terms of them fitting in the “park-it” trailer. This will allow our project to be self-sustained and
mobile within the travel of just the trailer and the Dero itself. Overall, the cases studied will help to build
a framework for the design guidelines of mobile parklet development in this project, as well as beyond
Northampton.
References
[1] http://library.rpa.org/pdf/TNJ-Beyond-the-Curb.pdf
[2] http://workaplusd.squarespace.com/blog/2015/12/22/parklet-competition-finalist
[3] http://www.samadesign.com.au/#exhibition-space
[4] http://popupcity.net/turning-grey-boxes-into-green-spaces/
Appendix A
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Appendix B
Appendix C
Overview of stakeholder needs for this initiative
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