Students transform blacktop into green space

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By Evanne Floyd

Parking on campus is often viewed as a hassle, but Friday, some students are taking empty parking spaces and showing people what they are missing.
Friday is National Park(ing) Day, and a group of students will transform a parking space in the Chemisty-Physics E Lot into a temporary park, sporting greenery donated by Michler’s Gardens and Greenhouses in order to raise awareness about development and land-use.
Julia Lepping, a fifth-year landscape architecture senior, is president of the UK chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects. When she heard about Park(ing) Day, she wanted to get involved.

After trying unsuccessfully to organize a group with other landscape architecture students, she passed the word on to members of UK Greenthumb, a student environmental club. Lepping said she wanted to bring the event to campus so other students might be inspired.
“As an environmentalist I have to hope people care as much as I do,” she said.
By decorating a parking space to resemble a miniature park, Lepping said it leaves “an image of something more pleasant then a parking space,” which will hopefully gain more support for the environment.
Park(ing) Day was created by REBAR, a San Francisco based art collective. In 2005 the group discovered that when you drop coins into a meter for parking, you are essentially leasing the space, allowing you to do whatever you please within its confines, said Matthew Shaffer of The Trust for Public Land.
REBAR chose to build their first temporary park. What started as a way to remind the community of the need for more green space quickly turned into a national event.
In 2006, REBAR and TPL teamed up to invite others to build their own parks, and by 2007 there were over 150 known “parks.” For 2008, the numbers jumped significantly to 400 parks in over 80 cities worldwide, according to Shaffer.
Greenthumb’s co-coordinator, Tate White, a geography and international studies senior, said she was excited when news of the project went through the club and many were eager to help.
White said she and other members of Greenthumb will join Lepping to hang out in the mini park, answer questions and promote the preservation of the environment.
Lepping said she wants the “park” to leave an impression that would encourage student participation in the green movement and that “the image of what could be in the parking lot would burn into the brains of students”