{"id":3534,"date":"2017-02-21T11:06:14","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T16:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/?page_id=3534"},"modified":"2017-02-21T11:06:14","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T16:06:14","slug":"parking-lots-transformed-into-arts-space","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/?page_id=3534","title":{"rendered":"Parking lots transformed into arts space"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted February 21, 2017<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By ETTY GROSSMAN<\/p>\n

Historically, Downtown Miami\u2019s Biscayne Boulevard has been a fast, wide, car-oriented roadway. With eight lanes only for traffic and six blocks of parking, the boulevard falls short of space for people and their community needs.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, as an attempt to find a balance between the valuable public space dedicated to both cars and people, the Downtown Development Authority decided to launch Biscayne Green, a temporary pop-up park and friendly pedestrian promenade project.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

An aerial view of the three blocks used for the pop-up project (Photo courtesy of Biscayne Green).<\/p><\/div>\n

From Jan. 6 until Jan. 26, 2017, three blocks of parking on Biscayne Boulevard under the Metromover tracks were transformed into green spaces.<\/p>\n

The parking spaces were occupied by pop-up events such as concerts, movie screenings, dance and yoga lessons, food and beer tastings and a temporary exhibition of artworks from local artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cScenarios such as Biscayne Green contribute a lot to the value of the neighborhood and to the lives in the community,\u201d said Biscayne Green Project Manager and DDA Urban Design and Transportation Planning Manager, Fabian De La Espriella. \u201cThey also add personality to the city; they bring interest, fun, charm and most important, community pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of transforming the boulevard into a walkable space was established back in 2009 when the downtown master plan was adopted by the DDA\u2019s Board of Directors. The master plan included a long-term vision of redesigning Biscayne Boulevard to include a pedestrian promenade and adapt the space so it could become an identifiable destination of the city, akin to Barcelona\u2019s famed Las Ramblas or San Francisco\u2019s Embarcadero.<\/p>\n

Even though the idea has been years in the making, it was only until 2016 when the DDA found an opportunity to accomplish it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we don\u2019t get enough government funding for these types of projects, we had to look for other alternatives and that\u2019s how we found out about the Knight Foundation \u2018Knight Cities Challenge,\u2019\u201d said De La Espriella. \u201cOut of 45,000 ideas, our project was selected among 158 ideas to submit a final proposal and finally Biscayne Green won a spot within 37 other projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The philanthropic organization awarded $ 146,000 to the DDA to execute the vision of the idea it had in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen deciding to fund any initiative, the Knight Foundation looks at three things: Authenticity and inclusion, innovation and artistic excellence,\u201d said the Knight Foundation\u2019s Director of Arts, Bahia Ramos. \u201cBiscayne Green not only had all of the requirements, but it would also do something that is crucial in our days: it would help ordinary people understand and enjoy the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first block of the project was used for food trucks, presentations, and planning meetings, while the second block was transformed into a mini-park with a kids playground, exercise stations and a dog park. The last block was made simply into a plaza with tables and seating for people to hang out.<\/p>\n

Among all of the three blocks, art was very much present. There was a design or work of art from local artists over each column of the Metromover corridor in front of Bayfront Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that art has a great component of transformation,\u201d said De La Espriella. \u201cThat\u2019s why one of the initial ideas that actually endured was to make a call to local artists to be engaged with Biscayne Green and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuban Artist Dania Sierra was one of the 16 selected artists. Her art piece \u201cThe Queen\u2019s Court\u201d graced one of the pillars during the entire month.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiami, in the last couple years, has been growing as a platform for artists,\u00a0so it is important to keep up with all that is trending,\u201d she said. \u201cThis project not only brings exposure to me but also beautifies the area, and engages the public with cultural happenings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric Krabeling, Drew Cooper, Natalia Valera, Sean Teixeira, Carlos Gonzales, Gianna DiBartolomeo and Humbert Fleitas were some other artists that took advantage of the project to exhibit their work.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, Biscayne Green created a habitable and enjoyable space. It got a lot of attention and the number of people that participated exceeded the DDA\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response from the community was amazing,\u201d said De La Espriella. \u201cHearing people saying things such as \u2018Why are you taking this away,\u2019 or \u2018We need more community events like this\u2019 was very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami City Commissioner and DDA Chairman Ken Russell is so excited about the project and its positive outcomes that by the end of his chair, he wants to make it permanent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would take us a lot of effort and time to recreate what we have done on a permanent basis, and it doesn\u2019t matter because at the end we are responding to a need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Biscayne Green\u2019s main goal was to make art general and accessible for everyone. However, the components of the project also helped to connect people to place and to each other by reflecting the diversity and the identity of the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted February 21, 2017 By ETTY GROSSMAN Historically, Downtown Miami\u2019s Biscayne Boulevard has been a fast, wide, car-oriented roadway. With eight lanes only for traffic and six blocks of parking, the boulevard falls short of space for people and their … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3534","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3535,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3534\/revisions\/3535"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reviewing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}