Transportation Alternatives and the Open Planning Project have launched a new competition, POP.Park, that asks the creative among us to design portable, affordable, pre-fabricated pop-up parks. The idea starts with Park(ing) Day, the annual reclaim-a-parking-space-as-public-park event, and takes it a step further, aiming to provide easy, immediate access to public space to anyone, any time, any day. This bright and sunny day should be inspiration enough to explore out of the ordinary uses of public space, but if not, look back into the Omnibus archive – we have seen people making parks (not in a box), ideas for reuse and reclamation of streets, first-rate competition entries for all sorts of plans, and incredible examples of community and citizen engagement.

The Pop.Park Call for Submissions (deadline September 1) reads:

POP.Parks will be public spaces produced from readily available, reclaimed or post-consumer recycled materials that will emerge from a regular, cardboard box. POP.Park competition finalists will be invited to construct their prototype on Park(ing) Day 2009 and entries will be judged by POPular text-message voting. The winners will be announced at T.A.’s annual REDUX event and the winning POP.Park prototype will be fabricated and sold on the T.A. website.

POP.Park prototypes should create a relaxing, safe and visually compelling environment for people. POP.Parks must provide physical delineation from traffic and be contextual to the city street environment. Physically, POP.Parks must fold into a box (or reusable bag or tote) that one person can carry while walking or riding public transportation. When assembled, POP.Parks should be no larger than 8′x15′ – the size of a regular car parking spot. The cost of building a POP.Park must not exceed $20.00

POP.Parks should be easy and fun to reconstruct and recreate over and over again on a neighborhood street. What’s in the box should be the structure – but the instructions can call on the creativity of the user to incorporate other commonly available materials or furniture items.

Click over to the website for more information, including submission instructions. You can also find out how to register for Park(ing) Day 2009, taking place on September 18th.