Parklets
NYC Outdoor Dining Could Get a Re-Do
The city council is considering making the al fresco dining program year-round to address cost concerns from small businesses.
Parklet Symposium Highlights the Success of Shared Spaces
Parklets got a boost during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the concept was translated to outdoor dining programs that offered restaurants a lifeline during the shutdown.
San Diego Swaps Parking Lane for Kid-Friendly Mini Park
The block-long greenway will feature interactive play equipment and landscaping.
Lessons in Child-Friendly Cities From Europe
How parklets, open streets, and green spaces make cities safer and friendlier for children and families.
NYC Losing Many Outdoor Dining Areas Due to Expensive New Regulations
Restaurant owners say the city’s new outdoor dining program makes it too difficult and expensive to operate al fresco setups.
How Park(ing) Day Leads to Permanent Change
Small-scale interventions can lead the way to major parking reforms.
Reports of the Third Place’s Death are Greatly Exaggerated
Starbucks is shifting to more drive-throughs and less comfy armchairs, but that doesn’t mean the demand for common spaces outside of home and work is waning.
Minneapolis Opens 2024 Parklet Season
The program supports nonprofits and other groups who want to build parklets and outdoor dining spaces on public right-of-way.
Santa Barbara Renews Parklet Program
The city updated its pandemic-era on-street dining program with new regulations that limit the locations and design of parklets.
Nashville Opens First Permanent Parklet
The city recently created a parklet permit process designed to help local businesses replace street parking with interactive public spaces.
How Food Trucks Promote Walkable Cities
Food trucks, outdoor dining spaces, and parklets are moving the needle toward more people-friendly cities and less car-oriented streets.
Bellevue Issues Curb Management Plan
The plan reorients the city’s priorities from vehicle throughput and parking to transit, bike infrastructure, and other public amenities.
Baltimore Sets Guidelines for Permanent Parklet Program
With pandemic-era parklet regulations set to expire on June 30, the city is launching a new, permanent set of guidelines for outdoor dining and other uses of curbside space.
Seattle Historic District Could Remove Street Dining
Despite the popularity of Ballard Avenue’s outdoor dining pergolas, some district board members argue the patios don’t match the district’s historic character.
Predictions for San Francisco’s Public Spaces
In 2023, will the city’s public spaces be reclaimed by cars, or will pandemic-era interventions lead to permanent change?
Where Car-Free Streets Won Out
While some open streets experiments have met with backlash from community members, others were so successful they led to permanent changes.
Outdoor Dining Parklets No Longer Cheap and Easy
Cities in Santa Cruz County, California are making outdoor dining laws permanent, and some businesses are getting sticker shock at the extra cost of maintaining the pandemic-era expansion of al fresco dining.
Cities Rethinking the Value of Parking
The effort to reclaim public and private spaces from car storage had some setbacks since the days of al fresco and open streets in the first years of Covid-19. But widespread parking reforms and new evidence shows the public is rethinking parking.
Opinion: Support Citizen-Led Public Space Projects
A public space advocate outlines how Philadelphia’s city leaders could support the parklets, plazas, and other public space conversions that proliferated during the pandemic.
What Is Tactical Urbanism?
Tactical urbanism, one of the most common buzzwords in planning over the past decade, describes a variety of low-cost, incremental public realm design interventions.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Ada County Highway District
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
