Event Spotlight

PARK(ing) Day traditionally empowers participants to get creative about the use of public space in our streets, taking over metered parking spaces to highlight the sheer amount of land we set aside for cars over humans. This year, we decided to theme our participation in the global event, “Housing as a Public Right.” The story begins in November of 2021, when we unveiled our new Guiding Principles for Civic Design. The Principles have two new priorities: housing and sustainability.

It’s simple to understand—Nashville has a housing shortage, especially housing that is attainable and affordable for all.

We started planning the event by recruiting housing and homelessness experts to create prompts to inspire parklet builders. During the Skyline Social event that happens in July, potential parklet builders met with experts to choose their prompts that would guide their PARK(ing) Day installations.

21 Parklets

4,793 attendees

Board President, Tifinie Capehart, and Deputy Mayor Haywood tour the parklets, enjoying Dryden + JE Dunn’s parklet (right). Community members interact with the prompts at ASD|SKY and Smith Gee Studio’s parklets (below). ASD|SKY asked participants, “do you think houseless individuals below in our public spaces?”

“These are some of the most important conversations to be having in this century and I’d love to see more people treating the houseless community with love and respect; they are humans and deserve everything housed individuals deserve. Furthermore, when a person has nowhere to turn, they should at least feel welcomed and able to enjoy public spaces.”

—Suzanne Merlino, ASD|SKY

On September 16th, some parklet builders created full scale models of transitional housing structures, while others took an educational route, asking attendees to consider their own life experiences compared to data. From seesawing with strangers to playing games with shocking statistics, the activities brought lighthearted fun to a very serious topic.

EOA Architects partnered up with Moody Nolan and MCR Group to build a transitional housing structure that can be deployed in rain or shine.

The parklet won the Most Innovative Golden Cone Award and it was donated to Open Table Nashville to be used by houseless individuals.