City Space Architecture promoted the first International Parklet Symposium in Bologna and online from 18 to 20 September 2024, bringing together global leaders to rethink how streets and curb space can become vibrant public places.
Over three days, the symposium combined an online gathering of scholars and practitioners, a full in‑person day on parklets, temporary uses, and co‑creation of public space, and Bologna’s first-ever Park(ing) Day event, with a one-day parklet built in the city, following the successful first-ever parklet built during the COVID-19 Pandemic implemented by City Space Architecture.
The initiative, curated by a team including John Bela, Luisa Bravo, Ryan Smolar, Robin Abad Ocubillo, and Ilaria Salvadori, was held under the patronage of the Culture Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Government, the US Embassy in Rome, Emilia‑Romagna Region, and the Municipality of Bologna, and aligned with European Mobility Week “Shared Public Spaces” and the global Park(ing) Day movement.
A final closed session at Museo Spazio Pubblico convened a smaller group of experts to draft the foundations of a Parklet Manifesto for the European Union, positioning Bologna as a laboratory for innovative, citizen-centred uses of public space.

CALL TO ACTION

We call upon cities and towns globally to establish a target of converting 1% of their existing on-street parking into Parklets and Streateries. 

IMPACT

A second International Parklet Symposium took place in San Francisco on 11-12 April 2025, hosted by AIA San Francisco | Center for Architecture + Design. Read more here.
A special issue of our The Journal of Public Space on “Parklets, Temporary Uses and Co-creation of Public Space” with key contributions from the symposium will be published in 2026.

PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE

DAY 1 (two sessions) – Wednesday, 18 September 2024 / ONLINE
An online gathering of global scholars and practitioners to present initiatives on the transformation of public space, with round table discussions and engagement of the online audience in Q&A sessions.

DAY 2 (whole day) – Thursday, 19 September 2024 / IN PERSON
Gather in Bologna and participate in a day-long symposium on parklets, temporary uses, and co-creation of public space, facilitated by today’s leaders in the field.

DAY 3 (morning) – Friday, 20 September 2024 / IN PERSON
Participate in Bologna’s first-ever Park(ing) Day event: after four years from the first-ever parklet in Bologna, that we implemented as part of the A-Place project (read more here), to celebrate Park(ing) Day we made another parklet just for one day! Yes we did it again! and it was such a nice moment and at the same time a very bold initiative!

DAY 3 (afternoon) – Friday, 20 September 2024 / IN PERSON
A smaller group of leaders in the field will gather at Museo Spazio Pubblico to begin to craft a Parklet Manifesto for the European Union.

CONCEPT NOTE
The modern parklet was created in San Francisco in 2009, building upon a long legacy of temporary occupation of roadway space to create tiny public spaces. Initially conceived of as a temporary expansion of the sidewalk into the vehicular right of way, parklets have evolved into their own unique space typology. The City of San Francisco Parklet Program has been imitated and adopted globally and parklet-like spaces grew steadily in cities around the world from 2009 to 2019. 2020 witnessed a radical expansion of non-conventional use of the roadway as many communities sought to use outdoor public spaces in the streets as gathering places and for commercial outdoor dining and retail. While recent years have witnessed a contraction of these pandemic-era uses of streets, many communities are continuing to grapple with some fundamental questions about these spaces; such as: Are they public or private? How to balance commercial and community uses of the curb lane? Who administers these programs and how do municipalities manage a fee structure for public and commercial uses of the public right of way? How do cities balance this explosion of user-generated uses of the public right of way while maintaining standards of accessibility, public safety, and design quality in the public realm?

Initiators and curators
John Bela (Bela Urbanism), our Founder and President Luisa Bravo (City Space Architecture), Ryan Smolar (PlacemakingUS), Robin Abad Ocubillo (City of Oakland, USA) and Ilaria Salvadori (City of San Francisco, USA)

with the patronage of
Culture Commission, Chamber of Deputies, Italian Government
United States Embassy in Rome
Emilia-Romagna Region
Municipality of Bologna

on the occasion of
European Mobility Week “Shared Public Spaces” and Park(ing) Day

Book of Abstracts

Message from Hon. Federico Mollicone, Chairman of the Culture Committee, Chamber of Deputies, Italian Government (in Italian).

All photos by Elettra Giulia Bastoni

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