People, parks, and parking
Cities are dense areas where millions of people can live very close to each other, and with many people living in flats and/or without gardens, green space can be really hard to come by.
A shift to more space-efficient forms of transport can help create more public green space, including things like ‘parklets’.
Parklets are old parking spaces that have been transformed into something for people to enjoy. They are a great way to transform our streets and bring people closer to nature by providing some much needed local green space. They can clean our air, cool us down, be a place to play or relax, whilst bringing communities closer together.
People, parks, and parking: our report
Focusing on Paris, London, and New York City, our report with the Active Travel Academy looks at how much land could be freed up if we didn’t need to make space for so many private cars - which sit unused for 95% of the time anyway. Here’s what we found:
Paris, London and New York City all allocate less than a fifth of their land area to public green space.
If all disabled people gain or retain a private car whilst all non-disabled people stop owning a private car, the number of private cars owned overall would fall by about half.
This percentage would be much higher - about 80% - if only those disabled people who already own cars continue to do so, and those who don’t already own a car don’t gain one.
About half of all households in these metropolitan areas are already car-free, yet each city has about 2-3 million cars they need to make space for.
Many residents who own a car still use other types of transport frequently, especially for commuting.
By getting 42-58% of cars off our streets, green space could increase by 10%. This is about the same amount of green space as the size of:
Four new Central Parks in New York.
The London Borough of Islington, or three of the city’s largest parks combined.
Three Bois de Vincennes in Greater Paris.
However, rather than creating a few new large parks, we could ensure people have fairer access to green space by redesigning parking spaces that already exist; turning parking spaces into parklets!
What you can do
Read the report: People, parks, and parking
Find the perfect spot for a parklet using our Parklet Plotter. We’ve designed a nifty interactive map - our Parklet Plotter - to help people learn more about the areas they live in. Find which communities have the least access to green space to how different areas measure up against social deprivation. Where do you think parklets could be installed to best help improve access to green space and give streets back to the community?
Ask your council to create a simple process which allows local communities and residents to come together and create parklets. Take action.
Design your own parklet. Download our ‘Design Your Own Parklet’ kit and get your creative juices flowing. Share your design ideas with friends, neighbours, family, local decision makers, classmates and us to get the conversation about parklets started.
Help us reach our target. We would love to create some parklets in our Car Free Cities, but we need your help. Can you chip-in to our Parklets Pot?
Learn more about parklets here.
Learn more about our Car Free Cities and Car Free Megacities campaigns: these campaigns are about creating more urban space for people and nature, clearing cities of air pollution and promoting healthy, active travel like walking and cycling. Check out their web pages here: