Green not Grey for our Streets - What street in Glasgow wouldn't look better with a Parklet?
We are seeing lockdown starting to ease and our local high streets reopen for business, and with that comes the conversation about what to do with our public spaces to help both businesses and people with physical distancing.
One option might be to add some Parklets on many of Glasgow’s local high streets, particularly outside cafes and restaurants.
We want our streets to be more than just for cars and drivers, we want everyone, young and old (or somewhere in the middle), to be able easily shop in pleasant and attractive surroundings, and that means making our streets at least a wee bit greener.
Parklets are one easy and quick way of doing that on Glasgow’s local high streets.
They are pavement extensions that provide both space and amenities for businesses and people using the street, usually installed in a space that was used to park cars.
Parklets are a way of demonstrating that this street is for people walking, talking and meeting friends, as well as shopping. They could provide convenient and comfortable sitting near shops, cafes, and your local library that do not block pavements, and could add much needed greenery on many Glasgow’s treeless local high streets with a range of designs that incorporate window box style planting.
Parklets might just help us create streets that put people first, and allow us to try this out in a temporary manner.
The temporary manner allows them to quickly be installed, changed or repurposed in the future. It’s not like Glasgow has dipped their toes into this idea before, back in 2015 we had trail outside CCA on Sauchiehall St.
The city of. Liverpool already has some on its streets. The above is currently being installed in Liverpool by Meristrem Design.
It’s time we kick a fuse in Glasgow, so that we can try these on our streets! We as a group would love to help and get behind anybody who wants to get one of these on their street!
The Byres Road BID (Business Improvement District) is lobbying for free or cheaper parking as their solution, but if they read our we have a brilliant blog filled with all the juicy facts they would see that show car parking isn’t the saviour for our high streets -, read it here: ‘Space for Distancing is Good for Business’.
It’s time to make our streets greener, and better for people and business!
