Pop-Up Public Spaces (Cool)
March 12th, 2012 by Zachary Shahan
Well, public space is public space, but if it is bland and relatively unwelcoming, most people will pass it by without noticing. In an effort to help people make more use of their spaces, the NYC Department of Transportation created the Pop-up Café Program about two years ago.
The NYC DOT “teams with local restaurants to provide outdoor public seating in areas where sidewalk seating was previously unavailable,” Beth Buczynski of sister site Insteading notes. “They use small but well-designed parcels of sidewalk or parking space to create miniature patios for warm weather seating. The seating is open to the public and no purchase at the partner restaurants is required.”
Here’s a time-lapse video of pop-up café at Local (144 Sullivan St.) in Greenwich Village:
Beth notes that it was visited and used by 96 people in this one day.
Of course, this is good for local businesses and is also good for local residents who want to have a nice, relaxing place to commune with others in public.
“Similar programs are ‘popping up’ in California, Pennsylvania and Canada, with more on the way,” Beth notes.
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About the Author
Zachary Shahan is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009. Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity. To connect with Zach on some of your favorite social networks, go to ZacharyShahan.com and click on the relevant buttons.
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