The small parking lot near Vijay crossroads was turned into a garden with attractive elements for children.
Imagine a parking space attractively done up with colourful decorations and interesting activities going on. This was the scenario at the parking space near Vijay crossroads of the city on Friday which attracted hundreds of Amdavadis.
With a view to create awareness about idle parking spaces and to convert them into vibrant public places, Park(ing) Day was celebrated in the city.
Organised jointly by Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (Cept) and Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), the event was inaugurated by municipal commissioner, Guruprasad Mohapatra. The day is an annual international event.
The small parking lot near Vijay crossroads was turned into a garden with attractive elements for children. Various activities like clay modelling, puppet show, paper bag making, body mass index (BMI) calculation, carbon footprint calculation, wishing tree, quiz on safety and traffic and graffiti were held for kids.
The recreated 'park' was so impressive that Mohapatra was delighted and appreciated the efforts of the participants. Speaking to DNA, he said, "The problem of parking is very complex and hence the pay-and-park system has been implemented. But this is a good concept to reduce vehicular traffic in parking lots. We will have to work on how to implement this system across the city."
He said Cept would come up with around three to four models for parking, one of which would be finalised soon.
While parking spaces are being converted into 'parks', don't we have ample gardens in the city? Answering this, director of CEE, Kartikeya Sarabhai said, "There are many areas where there are no gardens (especially in eastern parts of the city) and people have to travel far to walk or play in a garden. However, a lot of space is taken up by parking areas, which have the potential to become activity centres."
He added that such activities would also discourage people from parking vehicles in these designated areas and possibly prompt them to use public transport. "Through Parking Day, we are trying to spread a message that there can be other modes of transport as well. The solution is not flyovers or small cars or creating more parking spaces. The solution can be other modes of transport as well and leaving these places for developmental activities," Sarabhai added.
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