University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor residents took over three State Street parking spots Friday afternoon. Instead of cars, the spots housed a TV, tables and chairs, allowing those in attendance to play card games and Mario Kart while enjoying a sunny afternoon downtown.
“Park(ing) Day” — a global event held annually on Sept. 18 — first began in 2005 when the artist group Rebar created a temporary park in a parking space in San Francisco to call attention to the lack of open space in urban areas. The group later expanded this project to other cities — including Detroit, Nashville and Philadelphia — to invite people across the country to use parking spaces for anything but cars. The Ann Arbor “Parking Day” event was led by the U-M Urbanism Club, Wolverines on Wheels and local nonprofit Neighbors for More Neighbors.
The event offered spaces for participants to stop and reflect on where they feel most connected to the community. One parking spot was covered in chalk drawings, and another held a coffee table, comfy chairs and books. The Urbanism Club also previously built benches at bus stops throughout the city to promote public transportation use, which were also present…