Our Favourite Place is a programme that encourages and supports community-initiated projects to transform existing public spaces into active community spaces. Public spaces play an important part in our everyday lives. Well-designed public spaces serve as a gathering place for people to engage in leisure and social activities and enhance community interactions. Enjoyable public spaces not only make Singapore a more attractive city, but also create and sustain shared memories that bind the community.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is Singapore’s national land use planning and conservation agency. URA’s mission is “to make Singapore a great city to live, work and play”. We strive to create a vibrant and sustainable city of distinction by planning and facilitating Singapore’s physical development in partnership with the community. As the main land sales agent for the state, our multifaceted engagement strategy includes the sale of state land to attract and channel private capital investment to develop sites for meeting our land use needs. As the place manager for Marina Bay, we promote exciting activities within Marina Bay in collaboration with other government agencies and private stakeholders. To create an exciting cityscape, URA also actively promotes architecture and urban design excellence. For more information, please visit us at www.ura.gov.sg.
Keen to meet fellow coffee lovers over a free cup of coffee and learn more about the beverage? You can do this and more at 78 parking lots turned ‘PARKs’ across the city this Friday.
With the support of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Our Favourite Place programme to enliven public spaces, the community has stepped forward to take up the challenge of transforming ordinary car park lots into vibrant and experiential ‘PARKs’ featuring a myriad of interactive activities for all to enjoy.
Free coffee aside, the public can also enjoy an unconventional spa experience delivered with the help of everyday household items. More surreal experiences are also in store for those who would like to walk and cycle on a redesigned Tiong Bahru street in virtual reality, or wander among 100 inflatable cheer sticks playfully set up within the dimensions of a car park lot for creative contemplation.
These are among 52 temporary ‘PARKs’ that are set to appear at the Singapore edition of the international PARK(ing) Day on 16 September 2016 for the public to visit and enjoy. These PARKs will be mostly located in the city centre – in areas such as Telok Ayer, Bukit Pasoh, Jalan Besar, Bugis and Kampong Glam – with some in heartland locations like Sembawang and Tiong Bahru. Refer to Annex A [PDF, 114kb] for the list of PARKs and their locations.
PARK(ing) Day 2016 will see the largest participation from schools, with 19 innovative PARKs created and curated by students from LASALLE College of the Arts, School of the Arts, Nanyang Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). This is made possible by a team of students from SUTD, which took the additional effort of promoting the programme to local schools and providing guidance to the first-time student participants through workshops, tapping on their own experiences from past editions of PARK(ing) Day.
Having initiated the first edition of the PARK(ing) Day movement in Singapore in 2013 and participated in subsequent ones, 15 students from SUTD went a step further this year to become facilitators and mentors to their peers, generously imparting tips on the design and fabrication of PARK setups to create an interactive experience for the public.
Ng Lang, Chief Executive Officer of URA, said, “In line with the ground-up spirit of this movement, we have kept our role to providing approval for the parking lots to be used and basic logistics support. We are glad to see participants taking ownership of their initiatives, in particular, SUTD taking the lead to encourage students from other universities and schools to take part in the event this year. It is a good way for the community to help spread the green message, and to collectively re-imagine how public spaces can be used.”
Dr Chong Keng Hua, Assistant Professor at SUTD, who guided the SUTD students to facilitate the event and workshops, said, “PARK(ing) Day is more than just turning parking lots into parks and having fun. It is about starting a movement of community design and placemaking in a city – to get the public involved in transforming the streetscape, making it more walkable, more inclusive, safer and livelier. We have already seen several ideas from previous PARK(ing) Day taking on a life of their own beyond the event, and becoming popular public space projects. I hope that this event will inspire a year-round community movement in making our city better for everyone.”
The PARKs created by the students will feature a myriad of ideas and activities, including old school carnival games, cultural exhibitions, story-telling sessions and a coffee booth, among others.
For example, students from LASALLE College of the Arts will be setting up a series of four PARKs at Bussorah Street to showcase the heritage and culture of Kampong Glam through exhibitions, story-telling and a photo backdrop made with materials that tell of Arab Street’s traditions.
“What motivates us in this project is seeing how a small space, such as a parking lot, can improve the quality of our society. With the opportunity to redefine a parking space, we want to let people experience and better understand the rich culture of Kampong Glam. With our PARKs, we hope to remind the Kampong Glam community and Singaporeans of our cultural roots,” said third-year interior design student Nathania Putri Indrawati.
PARK(ing) Day 2016 will also see some returning participants whose PARKs were well-received last year. These include Play It Forward (artistically transformed pianos) and KamPONG (ping pong tables), both of which were piloted at PARK(ing) Day last year and have since been expanded and hosted at various public spaces across the island. A voluntary group of ukulele lovers, The Ukulele Assemble, is also back this year to put up free music performances for the public.
After participating in the event last year with a “fun fact vending machine”, two architectural designers, Dawn Lim and Fiona Tan, are back this year with “The Float House” – an installation at Telok Ayer Street featuring 100 cheer sticks within a parking lot, peppered with fun facts, mini water guns and a bubble machine.
“We have always been interested in the novel ways in which small scale community art and architectural projects can encourage public participation, engage people and revitalise public spaces. Our PARK offers a place for creative contemplation while celebrating the vibrancy of the city’s streets. We hope our installation can bring some fun and cheer to the working crowd around the area,” said Dawn Lim.
Singapore first participated in PARK(ing) Day in 2013 where students from SUTD transformed four car park lots at MacPherson Estate into community gardens. Since URA started supporting PARK(ing) Day in the following year, the Singapore edition of the international movement has seen a total of 174 PARKs set up over the years by participants from all walks of life, including students, community groups and business owners.
Find out more about the PARKs in Singapore and their locations at http://ura.sg/parkingday.
#PARKingDaySG