Parking day 2025, Middlesbrough

In 2025 Sawdust delivered PARK(ing) Day on Albert Road in central Middlesbrough. PARK(ing) Day is a global movement where people temporarily transform ordinary parking spaces into small public places.

The idea began in San Francisco in 2005 as a creative protest highlighting how much of our cities are given over to cars and how little space is left for people. Since then, communities across the world have taken part, turning parking bays into pop up parks, seating areas, art installations, gardens, games and places to meet.

For this project, a section of Albert Road was reimagined as a small parklet. The installation invited people to pause, sit, talk and spend time in a space normally used only for parking. While temporary, the project posed a lasting question: what could our streets be if they were designed for people as well as cars?

The intervention was not about banning cars, but about exploring balance. Even a single parking space, used differently, can start bigger conversations about how we move, meet, rest and connect in public.

Middlesbrough has many roads and parking bays, but far fewer small, welcoming public spaces where people can stop, meet or simply spend time. This parklet offered a glimpse of what could be possible, testing new ideas for how streets in the town centre might feel if more space was given back to people.

The project encouraged passers by to ask questions, share ideas and imagine how Middlesbrough’s streets could better serve the people who live and work here.

This project was commissioned by Borderlands Creative People and Places Programme.