How Good Are Parklets? - Reclaiming Street Space Through Temporary and Tactical Urbanism

How Good Are Parklets? traces the parklet's history, from its invention in 2005 as an experiment that tactically reclaimed street space for broader public use, to its surge in popularity worldwide after the COVID-19 pandemic for outdoor dining, community gathering, and play.

List of contents

Introduction I. THE PARKLET'S FORMAT 1. A brief history of parklets 2. Parklet design II. THE PARKLET'S CONTEXT 3. Mapping parklet locations in Melbourne as an indicator of street capacity 4. Contexts and clustering 5. The contested value of parklets III. THE PARKLET'S FUTURE 6. From 'pop-up' to permanent 7. Creating a public, playful parklet: design practice and the COVID-19 pandemic 8. 'Community parklets' 9. Parklets and the public good

About the author

Quentin Stevens is Professor in the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne. He studied temporary uses of urban spaces in Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, and led a recent Australian Research Council funded project that examined temporary and tactical urbanism in Australia and internationally. His publications include Temporary and Tactical Urbanism (2022), The Ludic City (2007), Loose Space (2007), and Activating Urban Waterfronts (2020).

Product details

• Assisted by: Stevens Quentin (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 10.11.2025
• EAN: 9781032876146
• ISBN: 978-1-032-87614-6
• No. of pages: 340
• Illustrations: schwarz-weiss Illustrationen, Raster,schwarz-weiss, Zeichnungen, schwarz-weiss, Tabellen, schwarz-weiss
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; ARCHITECTURE / Landscape, ARCHITECTURE / Urban & Land Use Planning, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban, City & town planning - architectural aspects, Urban & municipal planning, Interdisciplinary studies, Civil engineering, surveying & building, Human Geography, Urban and municipal planning and policy, City and town planning: architectural aspects, Civil engineering, surveying and building