— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Certainly you have heard of Rebar, the group that transformed a parking space into a temporary public park back in 2005, launching the “Parking Day” and parklet movements that have taken over San Francisco's streets. Well, since their initial success with parklets, they've kept turning out new ideas for DIY Urbanism and what they call “Urban Prototyping.” And this Sunday at the inaugural Design Cycle event—a series of TED-style talks on “urban innovation” and street parties at the Brava Theater on 24th Street—Rebar is debuting their latest idea:
Rebar has partnered with the SFBC to develop what they are calling a Streetscape Kit of Parts (“SSKOP”). It's like the parklet of bike lanes. Experimental, cost effective, fast and temporary. We'll be giving the first look at this concept at Design Cycle—the speaker won't even release any renderings in advance of the talk.
We can't even imagine what a “parklet of bike lanes” will look like, or even how they envision this being used, but we imagine this will be good.
Tickets for the 7pm talk are sitting at $18, but if that's too much for you, Rebar will be showing off their Bubbleware project before the talk on new pop-up parklet, Street Stage, outside the theater before the talk (and we're told they'll be some live bands and a bike-powered taco grill out there too).
Comments (18)
This is such BS. parklets are a misguided non-solution. to be expected from the narcissist caucasoids (of which i’m one too). “re-thinking public space”? that is such buzzword hokum! any wonder this is endorsed by the power classes in SF politics and real estate? another distraction from the real issues (inequality).
doubtless thought up by a bunch of coddled over-educated posers looking for the first opportunity to cash out.
sigh……….
self loathing?
Curing cancer wouldn’t solve inequality. Guess that’s not worth doing either, right?
Christ. First of all, calling “re-thinking public space” buzzword hokum is…wtf. Those are just words. Not SAT-style words, even.
Second, grousing about parklets in a short post about something taking place in a parklet (and not being about parklets really at all)? Really? Are we just all migrating over from SFGate here? I just read about some meeting taking place in a restaurant. Grr, I hate restaurants! I intend to register my outrage at what a bunch of rent-seeking leeches, those people trying to feed us are!
Distractions from the real issues [such as] inequality. Right, issues like our streets being overwhelmingly in favor of private cars getting places quickly and hardly giving a thought to walking or cycling people’s comfort or safety? Yeah you’re right, this stuff is just all too highbrow, hoity-toity. Those uppity pedestrians, I tell ya. So many of them in the Mission, not having cars, taking the bus everywhere. How dare they.
go get em tiger
also, fuck ted talks
Well you can let the DIY Urbanism revolution pass you by, but in the meantime we’ll be innovating, acquiring angels, and changing the world. Today, the parklet of bike lanes, tomorrow the parklet of bioengineering. Never stop innovating!
Sorry, I missed everything you said after “DIY Urbanism revolution” because I was busy throwing up in my mouth.
Agreed that $18 dollars for this type lecture does sounds steep for a 7 pm talk at Brava, and its going to select out a lot of ideas that are not part of the same cohort.
Evidently TAD is unhappy,
I hate parklets and groups of white people blocking the sidewalk, enforce the sit/lie law.
Does sit/lie make it illegal people to block the sidewalk by standing in front of a restaurants ? The name made me think it had to with sitting or lying down. Or do you mean when the restaurants spread out their outside chairs and tables and thereby block the sidewalk
How do parklets cause people to block the sidewalk?
Look at the picture dummy, there are people sitting on the sidewalk and blocking it.
If they were busking on any other non parklett spot on Valencia and gathered a crowd, …. there be less sidewalk space for people to walk by then exists because of the in a parking performance area.. .
Don’t feed the trolls.
Is the blonde with a banjo (BWAB) included in the TED SFBC DIY SSKOP?
Can you please get some new contributors?
No, but thanks for reading!
More blondes with banjos, please.