We need our Park(ing) Day too!

Across America last week, groups were raising awareness about how automobiles had won the battle over public space in the bigger cities. The activists took over parking bays to set up temporary parks with kiddie pools, picnic baskets and deck chairs. In some places, they organised portable stages for the reading of Romeo and Juliet and other plays.

Not everyone — especially those looking for space to park their cars — understood the exercise.  But when they did, many supported it.

Reading about this in the Sunday Star on the first day of Raya got me thinking: we need our Park(ing) Day in Malaysia as well. And the message shouldn’t just be for MPs and local councillors but for architects, land surveyors and developers as well.

Spaces for parks here are already small and often, a mere token for most housing estates but spaces for parking is also scarce. Putrajaya is one perfect example. Even new suburbs face the same problem. If you live or work in Damansara Perdana, you’ll find triple parking the norm.  Ironic, isn’t it? We are encouraged to buy cars but we have no where to park them.

The Star article quoted Matthew Passmore who started Park(ing) Day in the US. “Converting a parking space into something else challenges people’s assumption about how space is used and allows them to reimagine the possibilities of the urban landscape,” he said.

Wow, can we reimagine a KL, Penang or Malacca with more parks and spaces for parking?

You can’t? Hmmm, neither can I.