LOVE IT!! great for street reclaimers, but also thik of how puzzled some passing hikers would be if you took that tent on an actual camping trip ha ha

The more of these the better. The harder it is for people to find parking space, the more people will opt for a bike or public transport.

I'm sorry, I'm not just trying to be annoying (but some may think I am) but, I think this is really absurd. Fill up the parking spaces with tents and cars will end up parked on (and killing) the grass.

I get what they are trying to say but in a free country, it is the individuals right to live wherever they please even if you/we don't approve.

Oh come on, what is this nonsense?? Only a sociopath would impose themselves on others like this. Most city dwellers do not own vehicles. Those who do usually do so for a very good reason since it is insanely expensive to own a car in a typical big city. To cause these people even more of a headache by taking up PARKING SPACES with a friggin tent is the definition of SOCIOPATH. Oh yea, think the materials used in this tent are green??

Ostracize wackos like this, give them a night in lock-up, and teach then some friggin manners. Imagine if they put this energy into doing something actually constructive, like refurbishing bicycles for urban low-income families? Or picking up some trash? Or volunteering with Habitat For Humanity?

Shame on you, TH, for giving these counter-productive nuts any air-time.

cute idea, but where will we park our SUV's?

Yes, this is brilliant. I've always thought it was unfair that owners of 3-ton+ SUVs got to take up as much space as they want on the road--all for the price of registration. I've paid rent on rooms smaller than the free real estate that people grab, just from parking.

I'm going to build a big Hummer tent. I think I need extra studio space, or some bicycle storage space.

Anyone care to draft up plans for portable, 'parkable', protected, streetside bike parking?

Great! Now more people can circle around looking for parking spaces and burning more gas.

This is simply idiotic, and anyone doing this should be fined.

perfect idea for protecting smaller cars from big SUV's. Make the cover the size of a Hummer and park your Honda Insight inside... No dents, no dings!

Look son...that's what we used to call 'vagrancy'.

Perfect for protecting your small car! Have the tent the size of a Hummer and park your Honda Insight inside... No dents, no dings!

Monk.

perfect idea for protecting smaller cars from big SUV's. Make the cover the size of a Hummer and park your Honda Insight inside... No dents, no dings!

In my neighborhood in Chicago, it is obvious that if everyone in the neighborhood owned a car, there would be *nowhere* for most of them to park.

What gives people who own cars, or SUVs, the right to take up public space, just because they want a place to park?

*I* pay to maintain the roads. I pay to keep up that public space. I pay to give their car a semi-permanent parking space. Do I get to use it for what I want? No---unless I have a car. Why is that fair?

What if I wanted to plant a garden there? Is that a better or worse option for the community than parking a 3-ton car on that spot of land?

The only thing that allows people to have free parking spaces is the complicity of the citizens to allow it.

Why is sociopathic to put a tent on a parking space? I think it shows concern for the environment, an awareness of the use of public space, and sends a very-aware statement to the rest of society.

It is sociopathic to feel entitled to put a gas guzzling eyesore on that land.

I've got a sustainable, long-lasting home idea for Habitat for Humanity---take a swaz-all to a Hummer, get some nice curtains, a doorbell, and a mailbox, and make a nice semi-permanent home for a deserving homeless person. And park *that* on public land.

I live outside Madrid and occasionally go there. My wife and I have a small Yaris, but I don't have a driver's license (I dislike cars, but I live in the middle of nowhere. It would probably be best to have an SUV since I have to drive through a kilometer of rough dirt, but I choose not to have one.) Occassionally I go to Madrid by public transport. The streets are packed with illegally parked cars, the traffic goes super slow because there are too many people coming from out of town by car to go to work, the air quality is so bad that it is illegal. I could go on and on. The only thing that has dented all the illegal and bad car parking in the city and car driving density in general is a specialized illegal car parking ticket police, steep fines and a new system of paying for parking with high prices. And still the situation is unacceptable. If it were up to me, all those sociopaths who unnecessarily drive a car, especially big cars, to work in the city when there is a sophisticated expansive system of public transport should be fined or banned or taxed or something. Until then, I hope to see car tents blooming like wild flowers in April.

Jim,

So true. Several people have done those things. A friend-of-a -friend lived in a camper, which he left parked on the street in Chicago.

Also, several people have chopped the roofs of old cars and planted a garden in them.
http://www.onedayvancouver.ca/files/images/stories/garden_car_front3copy.jpg
http://www.laokay.com/lathumb/laphoto/LawnWH108.jpg

Jim

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Three cheers. I am standing, applauding, weeping. Inspirational. I especially like: 'The only thing that allows people to have free parking spaces is the complicity of the citizens to allow it.'

Transportation Alternatives did a "parking spot squat" in Brooklyn last year to illustrate how street space in New York City could be used more efficiently:

http://transalt.org/e-bulletin/2005/Nov/bedford_photoessay.html

No one has pointed out that it is is illegal in most municipalities to spend the night in a car parked in the street. This would seem to fall under the same rules.

That said, I think this proof of concept is brilliant. The amount of space we "choose" to dedicate to automobiles is insane. It is time we reclaim space for true shared use. I couldn't agree more with Jim in Chicago. Currently London is one of the few cities doing anything about drastically limiting automobiles from the city center.

Unbelievable. You lot are the reason why we are doomed. You can't see that this is as aberrant behavior and will alienate the general public. These are PARKING SPACES, not public spaces to be done with as you please. Of course most anyone who does this in most any city will indeed be arrested, but the mindset is insane. Think about it: cars will have to drive around longer to find a spot. Worse, those who have hybrids, EVs, or veggie cars will be hating you too. My god, GET A CLUE or just go die... your behavior is going to kill us all.

Cute, but this one is better:

A group in San Francisco 'rented' a parking spot for a day, and converted it into a temporary park.

http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parking/index.html#

Click on the photo in the link to watch the video.

Found via BoingBoing:
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/20/parking_urban_art_pr.html

Chingy,
I don't think anyone is seriously advocating tent parking as a permanent solution. I think most people recognize this as an artistic stunt, intended to bring awareness to the problem of using public space as parking space.

Of course it is illegal to spend the night on the street. (I'd imagine it would also be unpleasant to sleep where cars are constantly pulling up and parking next to you.)

However, the basic sustainability issue, as I see it, is this: There is not enough space in urban areas to grant a parking space to anyone who wants one. The idea that people always feel entitled to a parking space is not practical. Urban space is extremely limited. How much of it should be devoted to parking, and how much of it could be used for something else: such as recycling centers, park space, fire hydrants, etc??

Right now, the problem seems to solve itself; people who choose to own cars must constantly battle for a parking space. Those who can put up with this, do. Those who can't must spend great amounts of time driving around for spaces.

But here's an interesting case of where that falls apart: Someone in my neighborhood just built a single-family home. Next to that home, they built a garage. Beside the garage, they built a driveway that extends to the curb which, by statute, also forbids anyone from parking in front of it.

With the driveway, they have effectively removed one, maybe two, public spaces from the neighborhood. And yet, they also choose to park on the street (an H2, if you can believe it)---effectively claiming maybe three parking spaces which had previously existed.

Do they have the legal right to do this? Yes, absolutely.

Is that fair? Probably not.

What if I were absurdly rich, and bought fifteen SUVs, and I left them constantly parked all around the neighborhood, and only drove them once per month.

Is that legal? Oh, yes.
Is it fair? I don't know.

Urban parking is something which appears to be managed reactively. Downtown parking is tightly controlled--and post 9/11, mostly prohibited along streets.

Maybe its up to the citizens, then, to offer alternative uses for this space, and to let lawmakers know that they'd rather have neighborhoods designed for living in, not parking on.

Personally, I prefer the PARKing project because it encourages social interaction. A tent is rather isolating and anti-social.

I'm currently living in Milan, where people park three abreast along the streets and sidewalks. In fact, the sidewalks tend to be bigger than those I've found in other cities precisely because people park on them (or does it merely enable that behavior...hard to tell). Personally, I find it unnerving when I go to Switzerland and drivers actually yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, unlike in Milan where two people I know have been sent to the hospital after getting run over on two separate occasions. But that's neither here nor there.

The point is that people live in cities too, not just cars, and I think that any project which emphasizes the human aspect of cities and reminds people of their participation in the city is a valuable project.

Heck, turning parking spots into parks and replacing asphalt with dirt would at least mean all those rough and tough SUVs would be used as advertised.

Why are some of you so uptight about this?Follow the rules...follow the rules!Why the name calling?Sociopath?Come on....after 64 years on this earth,I'll give a little nutty-fun some space ANYTIME.Lets,instead,
ignore the TIGHT-A--'s(bean counters) of the world!Laugh,Love,have a little chuckle when a chuckle is due and stop judgeing... because my dearies,the alternative is six feet under where "NOBODY" needs a parking space including SUV'S and that my friends is the truth...spluutht!JACKIE

I love this idea; it is a brilliant next move from "park"ing. Next up I would like to turn an entire parking lot into a grassy meadow. Until then, this car tent is awesome.

I enjoy both beans and bean counting.

:)

Hmmm, why not just legitimagely park your bike there and feed the meter?

Michael, the tent is a great, creative idea but parking costs where we live so------it would be costly to park /camp on the road. I would love to film the expression of a ticketing official.