Parklets are here!
The City's first public parklets have arrived!  Parklets transform parking spaces into vibrant community spaces, filled with seating, art, and greenery (learn more).
In 2021, the City installed two public parklets as part of a pilot program.  The first parklet, on Washington Street between Main and Sumter,  was made possible by a grant from the AARP Community Challenge Program, and features the artwork of Frankie Zombie.  Installed in May of 2021, this vibrant parklet includes cafe table seating and is adjacent to the entrance of the historic Arcade Building.  Southern Vistas provided the plants for this parklet.
Photograph of a woman taking a group selfie in the Parklet on Washington. She stands, smiling, in the lower righthand corner, as two women and two men sit in brightly colored chairs and at a bright green table, also located within the parklet, and smiling at the camera.
Parklet on Washington
The second parklet, on Hampton Street between Main and Sumter, was made possible by a grant from the Knight Foundation, and features artwork by local artist Cait Maloney.  Additional support for both parklets has been provided by One Columbia and City Center Partnership.

Celebrate PARK(ing) Day each September!
What is PARK(ing) Day?
PARK(ing) Day is an annual open-source global event where citizens, artists, an activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into PARK(ing) spaces - temporary public spaces.  Always scheduled for the third Friday in September, the City of Columbia has been host to PARK(ing) Day celebrations since 2015.  Each year, artists, architects, advocates for public space, and more come together to design and build temporary parklet installations in parking spaces throughout the urban core, inspiring and challenging Columbians to reframe how we think about public space.  

PARK(ing) Day 2022
PARK(ing) Day is Friday, September 16, 2022, and it's never too early to start planning your parklet for Friday, September 16, 2022!  Applications are due August 19th, but parking spaces are reserved on a first-come, first-applied basis!  Want to know more before you apply?  Check out the press release, and these FAQs about designing a PARK(ing) Day parklet in Columbia.

It's also a design contest!
Bring your A game - and your team could win a prize pack!  PARK(ing) Day 2022 includes our second annual design contest, with two awards up for grabs: a juried Best Design Award, and a People's Choice Award with voting day-of!  We had some amazing designs last year, and we can't wait to see what you'll come up with this year!
Photograph of a parklet in front of the Kress building, which has seating covered by the frame of a car made out of wood, taking flight with red balloons.
The Quackenbush Architects + Planners parklet won the juried 2021 Best Design Award
Photograph of people standing in a parklet on Main Street, on top of a blue plastic made to look like water. A patio umbrella, palm fronds, and a sailboat surround them. The people are wearing Hawaiian shirts and hula skirts and holding beach balls.
The LS3P Associates parklet won the 2021 People's Choice Award

Need some inspiration?
Check out some photos of PARK(ing) Day installations from past celebrations in Columbia below.  If you're on social media, you can look for #parkingday and #ASLAparkingday to see what other communities have done, too!

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​Columbia Compass is the update to the City of Columbia, South Carolina’s Comprehensive Plan.  To learn more about the City’s other planning efforts, please visit the City's website.
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