Park(ing) Day Toronto returns this year from Friday, September 20 to Sunday, September 22, 2024, transforming parking spaces across the city into pop-up parks and social spaces. Organized locally by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, the event invites citizens, artists, and urban planning activists to reimagine public spaces through creative, temporary installations.
This year’s event will showcase a vibrant array of installations across the city, including:
- A colourful balloon grove
- A pop-up pickling parkette
- Bike tune-up workshops
- Pop-up tailoring and alteration services
- Dance and music performances
- An outdoor street garden
- A planting workshop
- A beading workstation with a local DJ
Each installation will occur on a designated day between Friday and Sunday, with specific times and locations listed on the Park(ing) Day Toronto website. For more information, visit www.parkingdaytoronto.ca
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Park(ing) Day is a global event, held annually on the third weekend of September. What began in 2005 as a single installation in San Francisco by the design studio Rebar has since grown into a worldwide movement, with hundreds of cities participating across the globe. Park(ing) Day highlights the need for improving access to public open spaces in densely populated urban areas. The event promotes civic engagement and raises awareness about the need for more green and social areas in our urban environments. The ethos of Park(ing) Day is to celebrate the use of urban public space for people and challenge the dominance of the automobile in cities.
Since its inception in 2022, Park(ing) Day Toronto has been gaining momentum. While last year saw five independent activations, there are over 30 registered activations for 2024. This expansion is largely due to a grant program initiated by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, in partnership with SvN Architects + Planners, Arup Canada, DTAH, and MASSIVart, created to stimulate more activations throughout the city. The grant has enabled more than a dozen activations hosted by non-profits, student groups, local community organizations, and individuals, all contributing to the ongoing dialogue about on re-prioritizing public spaces for people rather than cars.
