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Park(ing) Day on the Upper West Side

Here at 113th and Broadway, the curb is normally used to house an empty car. After being transformed by a team of Columbia planning students, however, it could provide a downright luxurious living space for normally-cramped students. The makeshift dorm room had two walls, a TV and cabinet space, a four-poster bed and, on the table, a copy of The High Cost of Free Parking.
A Park(ing) Space at Broadway and 113th recreated an entire dorm room. Photo: Noah Kazis.

Here at 113th and Broadway, the curb is normally used to house an empty car. After being transformed by a team of Columbia planning students, however, it could provide a downright luxurious living space for normally-cramped students. The makeshift dorm room had two walls, a TV and cabinet space, a four-poster bed and, on the table, a copy of The High Cost of Free Parking.

Free bike-powered smoothies are available at 116th and Broadway. Photo: Noah Kazis.

A few blocks further north, another group of Columbia students offered any passerby a free smoothie, with the blender powered by bike. Just to the right of the blender was a fully sodded seating area, in heavy use.

Barnard's EcoReps set up this Park(ing) Space at Broadway and 117th.

Completing the Morningside Heights trio of Park(ing) Day sites was this tent, with free baked goods, music, and a piñata, set up by Barnard’s EcoReps. Not only did students walking by stop to chat, it appeared to be a popular spot to get some homework done.

ParkingTrainSet

A younger crowd enjoyed this Park(ing) space at 95th and Columbus, across from the Upper West Side’s new protected bike lane. With a train set and coloring supplies, kids could design what they’d like to see their neighborhood look like. In the spirit of Park(ing) Day, the expansion of play streets was one prominent request.

Photo of Noah Kazis
Noah joined Streetsblog as a New York City reporter at the start of 2010. When he was a kid, he collected subway paraphernalia in a Vignelli-map shoebox. Before coming to Streetsblog, he blogged at TheCityFix DC and worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Noah graduated from Yale University, where he wrote his senior thesis on the class politics of transportation reform in New York City. He lives in Morningside Heights.

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