Walklet Creates Public Spaces From Excess Roadways

From San Francisco comes a new concept in extending and maintaining new public space.

Created by REBAR, an interdisciplinary studio that builds installations for art, design and activism in everyday life, Walklet is “a modular, flexible sidewalk extension system designed to create new public spaces for people by extending the pedestrian realm into the parking lane.”

Inspired by the success of PARK(ing) Day, which was also created by REBAR, the project hopes to use Walklet as an experimental site for transforming excess roadway space into new forms of urban infrastructure.

From the official Walklet website:

“Each three-foot wide Walklet module provides a single, specific program that can be mixed and matched with other Walklet modules to create the right design combination for each unique site.

Walklet extends the sidewalk surface into the street but provides much more than just a place to walk—it creates an adjustable, flexible, full-scale laboratory for developing and refining the perfect combination of user programs.”

Each piece also comes fully assembled, and can be installed with minimal tools and construction efforts.

Currently, the project has a pilot prototype installed at 22nd and Bartlett Streets in San Francisco, and is being supported by the City’s Pavement to Parks program.

Walklet

REBAR