The Inukai Family Boys & Girls Club in Hillsboro, Oregon, sits about 20 miles west of Portland. As one of ten Boys & Girls Clubs in the Portland Metro region, it provides after-school and summer programs for about 200 kids, most of whom come from low-income families. For the young people who attend, it’s a chance to develop leadership skills and participate in a range of activities, from the visual and fine arts to STEM, finance and nutrition classes.
The club also offers sports and recreation, which until recently was a bit ironic, considering that the nearest green space was almost a mile away. Instead, the building sat adjacent to a little-used 4,500-square-foot parking lot.
The lack of a suitable play area for the boys and girls of Inukai caught the attention of Ted Labbe, a conservation biologist and volunteer with Depave, a Portland nonprofit that transforms over-paved areas by breaking up asphalt and replacing it with natural vegetation. Since it was founded by Labbe and a friend more than a decade ago, Depave has worked with local schools, churches and businesses to turn concrete eyesores into lush landscapes replete with rain gardens, vegetable beds, tree groves and bioswales.
To repurpose the Inukai club’s parking lot, Labbe gathered a team of about 100 volunteers last fall to rip up the paved lot and make room for a revamped play area. Features of the new space include a rain garden, a stage, bike racks, garden beds and picnic tables. At the end of this month, more volunteers will assemble to plant additional vegetation, with the grand opening of the new green playspace set for April 12.
Depave’s mission of re-greening urban spaces through the lens of community engagement is spreading. To date, the organization has completed about 70 projects in the Portland area (which collectively cover roughly 165,000 square feet of asphalt) and now counts five affiliate programs in its network, spanning from Cleveland to Canada. They believe their model has the potential to be scalable almost anywhere. And as the Green New Deal talks gain steam in Washington, communities have been beefing up efforts to address the impending threats from climate change.
That includes New York’s Hudson Valley, where Arif Khan, one of Depave’s founders, now lives. Khan says he has seen a growing need for de-paving projects in his new community and has been consulting with municipal governments along the Hudson River. He believes that Depave’s model of tactical urbanism sits at the forefront of a bigger push to prioritize open spaces for people instead of paving them for cars.
In cities like New York, for example, local neighborhood groups and business improvement districts have for several years been installing temporary parklets for use in warmer months. Also known as “street seats,” the idea is to repurpose parking spots into tiny but vibrant green spaces with public amenities like outdoor seating and food vendors. Similar street-seating efforts exist in cities across the U.S.
But what makes Depave’s efforts stand out from typical parklets is that rather than constructing a new space on top of existing infrastructure, volunteers remove the concrete and asphalt first. In this way, Depave’s projects improve the environment. Because they’re impervious, paved surfaces divert stormwater into a region’s waterways, carrying with it toxic pollutants like oil, antifreeze and pesticides. Depave estimates that their efforts divert more than 4 million gallons of stormwater away from storm drains annually.
“Parklets are all well and good but they are a band-aid, not a permanent fix,” says Labbe, adding that “elected officials are discussing how to scale up more general de-pave strategies to address the worsening climate crisis.”
In addition to benefiting the environment, de-paving projects can inspire civic engagement. In its first decade of existence, Depave has worked with more than 4,800 volunteers around Portland.
The act of de-paving satisfies a social need just as much as an environmental one, says Labbe, and a project’s success directly depends on a community’s involvement. “You can’t [de-pave] without a willing and engaged community,” he says.
More: Embracing Diversity In The Great Outdoors
Tag: parking lot
Why Aren’t We Doing This to Every Single Parking Lot?
Last May, we got really excited about paving America’s roads with solar panels. But instead of laboriously tacking panels on the nation’s 4-million mile stretch of concrete, how about something much, much simpler?
Solar parking lots.
Chris Mooney raves on The Washington Post’s new environmental blog that solar carports are the “best idea in a long time.” That’s because a photovoltaic canopy helps power whatever office or building the parking lot services, provides shade for the cars parked underneath and can help juice up electric car charging stations.
This idea isn’t new — Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters has had one since 2007, the Washington Redskins’ FedEx Field also has a solar carport that generates 20 percent of the stadium’s power and tricked-out lots are also found in solar-happy states like California, New Jersey, Arizona, Massachusetts, New York and North Carolina.
It’s a tantalizing consideration for any business that wants to go green with the renewable energy of the sun or even for homeowners who don’t have a proper roof for a rooftop installation.
But as Mooney points out, the reason why this seemingly no-brainer idea is not yet widespread is its cost. “It’s the most expensive type of system to build,” Chase Weir of TruSolar tells the columnist. “A lot more engineering, a whole lot more steel, more labor, and therefore, it’s a relatively small percentage [of solar power]…but it is growing, and the cost to install a solar canopy today is less than the cost to install a rooftop just a few years ago.”
It’s true. Despite a recent glut of cheap oil, clean energy is booming. Panels are only getting cheaper and more efficient. One day, we will run out of fossil fuels, but the sun will shine on and on. Looks like the forecast for solar carports is sunny.
DON’T MISS: Going Solar Is Cheaper Than Ever. Here’s What You Need to Know About Getting Your Power From the Sun
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Detroit’s Newest Parking Garage Becomes An Unlikely Canvas
Several years ago, the only words that came to mind when someone mentioned Detroit were American car companies, urban decay, and vacant houses.
But now, Detroit is quickly becoming a hotbed for turning public places into art spaces, and one of its newest commercial developments is no exception.
“The Z” is a 535,00 square foot building, named for its zigzag shape stretching from the corner of Broadway and East Grand River to the corner of Gratiot and Library streets. But unlike any other nearby structures, the 10-story space houses 1,300 parking spots set against a backdrop of vibrant murals commissioned from more than 27 artists across the world. Bedrock Real Estate teamed up with the garage owner and art gallery Library Street Collective for the project, which opened in January.
The featured artists include Maya Hayuk, Interesni Kazki, Cyrcle, Sam Friedman, Augustine Kofie, Dabs Myla, Smash 137, Gaia, Pose and Revok, according to the gallery, and all come from a street or contemporary background.
“The project pretty much encapsulates the building that we’re in,” said Anthony Curis, of the Library Street Collectiv, on the gallery’s website. “It’s a very nontraditional space, but Detroit is a very nontraditional city.”
As drivers wind through each floor, they’ll find expansive murals, which are highlighted in a documentary displayed on a television screen near the lot’s first floor elevators. Making it all the way to the top not only gives those behind the wheel a glimpse of the whole project, but a 360-view of downtown Detroit as well.
Since its inception, “The Z” is now home to a gastro-pub and recently announced the forthcoming additions of a collectible sneaker store, Nojo Kicks; a farm-to-fork eatery, 7 Greens; and yoga studio Citizen Yoga, according to mlive.com.
Though it may only be a parking lot, “The Z” art project gives Detroit residents one more reason to love their city — and a new idea of how other American cities can innovate when it comes to public space.
MORE: From Trash to Transit: Detroit’s Innovative Uses for Demolished Homes