Utrecht is a city where people sometimes have great difficulty finding a parking space. A city where more and more parking spaces are disappearing. In that city, the cultural organization RAUM has come up with a very special plan. Do something different with your parking space. Put a swimming pool there. Or a cinema on wheels.
On Friday, September 20, World Parks Day, the cultural organization launches Raum Utrecht’s pop-up parking service. During the weekend of September 20, 21 and 22, Utrecht residents can make a parking space in their neighbourhood available for creative use. From a pop-up swimming pool to a mobile sauna, from a cinema on wheels to a children’s play area. Utrecht has around 375 football pitches (± 1,900,000 square metres) of parking spaces. Mostly small parts of the public space can also be used as a meeting place. From August 10, interested parties can register www.raumutrecht.nl Please contact us for more information and to book leisure activities. Under the motto “Park something different”, RAUM wants Utrecht residents to experience the possibility of using this space in a more creative way as well.
Utrecht sees opportunities in innovative parking solutions
“We consciously chose Utrecht with this pilot because they have been daring to step up to the plate for years,” says Jesse Jörg, impact programmer at RAUM. “For example, in 2021 it was announced that the municipality of Utrecht will replace a large number of parking spaces per year with parking centres on the outskirts of the city. The municipality also aims to convert 750 to 1,500 parking spaces per year in Utrecht’s neighbourhoods, so that there is more space for other functions in public spaces that benefit a healthy urban life for everyone.”
Look at your street or neighborhood differently.
Jörg: “It’s magical to see what happens when people start looking at their street or neighbourhood through a different lens. If you think about it carefully, it makes no sense at all to provide a huge space for cars that are parked 95% of the time. We want to show the people of Utrecht what it would bring them if that public space – the parking spaces belong to all of us – were used differently. This would create more space for local people to meet, space for children to play and space for greenery.
Raum is located in Berlin Square and is strongly supported by the municipality of Utrecht.
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