Pop up parks have been an urban trend for some years now. Consider this tiny sidewalk cafe in New York (internet picture):

Can’t you just imagine our bureaucrats worrying about safety from wildly careening cars? Where’s the crash barricade? The flashing lights? the bollards? After all, it’s an intrusion into the realm of the car.

The focus groups at the recent Downtown Moves study brought up the idea of pop up parks and cafes, but the idea didn’t seem to make it to subsequent drafts of the report.

Earlier this year, I thought I read about a pop up park in the By Ward Market, but I couldn’t find it. Either it didn’t happen, or I am calendar and geographically challenged.

We did get a guerilla sign campaign, asking us to think about pop up parks.

During fashion week(end) earlier in the month, a genuine bit of pop-up furniture did appear on Preston for a short while. It looked great. Inviting. Glamorous, in a big-city sort of way. Too big-city for Ottawa; the furniture quickly disappeared and car storage returned to its rightful realm.