“Citizen Activists around the globe turn parking spaces into mini-parks for a day to demonstrate the need for more urban green space. The annual event is organized online, but staged offline in dozens of cities on every continent around the world. It’s a demonstration of the power of social media and international collaborative activism… and a great way to have fun and relax.”

2010 was my first ever park(ing) day. So glad to benefit from this global, shared collaboration to create intentional green space in the urban context. I met my neighbors and ate delicious cookies from friends at WalkSF. I’d say the greatest benefit to all these parks was getting people socializing in public! I know we Americans can be quite scared to talk with strangers - but perhaps the most important thing we ever do is just talk with each other - especially those we dont know or from different social contexts. This cross fertilization increases our ability to thrive in diverse groups and trust our neighbors. Of course diversity, trust, communication are all clutch for successful collaborations (duh!), so thanks Park(ing)ers for not only pulling off an awesome global collaboration, but increasing all of our collaborative capacity.