Jacqueline Kook and her 5-year-old daughter, Francesca Cabrera, were making their way to the playground when they came upon a reading cart and an obstacle course in the middle of Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The pop-ups borrow from an urban tradition of using streets and other public spaces for temporary (and sometimes unsanctioned) activities, such as turning curbside parking spots into “parklets,” Mike Lydon, an urban planner, said. The impromptu spaces are intended to encourage social interaction.
A small fleet of 10 rolling carts are available for use as portable reading rooms and for other programs, including as an urban nature station that comes with microscopes, binoculars and a stuffed red-tailed hawk. During the pandemic lockdown, a no-touch obstacle course and chalk-art station were added.
Another project in the works, and also supported with city funding, is an “equipment library,” which will loan out carts, tables, benches, books and other materials, all at no cost, to business improvement districts and community groups. Street Lab also sells its pop-up kits to libraries, park conservancies and municipal agencies in dozens of cities, including San Francisco, Seattle and Newcastle, Australia.
Source: Hu, W. (2023, April 1). Go play in the street, kids. really. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/01/nyregion/street-lab-open-streets-nyc.html?searchResultPosition=18
Analysis: This is a great example of how the park can function on the go at outreach events and even in Dayton to bring new people into the park. I think it’s an opportunity to create something fun and fleeting that leaves people exhilarated and wanting to come back for more. Especially if they were to have market booths by the visitor center or the face of one of the Wrights’ factories. It’d bring people into previously unused spaces/get them to linger.
