Meter Made: Park a Tree Like a Car and You've Got a Parklet

Milanese artist and designer Matteo Cibic realized one day recently that he had never sat on a bench under a tree in his adopted home town. So, he designed a modular, mobile mini-park, complete with Wi-Fi to fit snuggly into any of Milan's parking spaces. "Park goers" just need to stay on top of that meter.

Cibic explains on his site how his project will be more than just a Wi-Fi hub for hipsters:

It would make the neighbourhood safer thanks to a help button and a light to light up dark streets. Also it should have a USB Charger for people who’d like to work open air I see this social and design concept as a great way to make my hometown Milan a better and more liveable place. This way we could create new green areas right in the heart of the city and everyone could live right next to a tree once in a while.

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GOOD has been a huge fan of PARK(ing) Day, the annual international seizure of asphalt for the commons, since its birth in San Francisco back in 2008. What started as a one-off event has snowballed over the years into a full fledged movement that has begun to reshape policy around how cities use public space. San Francisco now has dozens of permanent "parklets" scattered around the city that began their lives as renegade PARK(ing) day parks.

Here's to more creative thinking around expanding public space in our increasingly crowded cities.