A pocket park (also known as a parkette, mini-park, vest-pocket park or vesty park) is a small park accessible to the general public. While the locations, elements, and uses of pocket parks vary considerably, the common defining characteristic of a pocket park is its small size. Typically, a pocket park occupies one to three municipal lots and is smaller than in size.
Pocket parks can be urban, suburban or rural, but they customarily appear in densely developed urban areas, where land is very expensive and space for the development of larger urban parks is limited. They are frequently created on small, irregular pieces of public or private land, such as in vacant building lots, in brownfields, beside railways, beneath utility lines, or in parking spots.
Pocket parks can create new public spaces without the need for large-scale redevelopment. In inner-city areas, pocket parks are often part of urban regeneration efforts by transforming underutilized or blighted spaces into vibrant community assets. They may also be created as a component of the public space requirement of large building projects.
Pocket parks can serve as focal points of activity and interest in urban areas. Common elements of pocket parks include benches, tables, fountains, playgrounds, monuments, historic markers, art installations, barbecue pits, flower beds, community gardens, or basketball courts. Although they are often too small for many space-intensive physical activities, pocket parks provide communities with greenery, a place to sit and rest, and an ecological foothold for urban wildlife.
History
The first pocket parks appeared in Europe in the aftermath of World War II. As cities began to recover from the large-scale physical damage incurred by warfare, such as from bombings, limitations in capital, labor, and building materials necessitated cheap, easy, and minimalistic solutions to restore urban landscapes. These constraints promoted the conversion of heavily damaged sites into small public parks which echoed the neighborhood's original peacetime identities.
By the 1950s, the first pocket parks appeared in the United States as an adaptation of these small European parks. Inspired by this readaptation of urban space, landscape architect and professor Karl Linn proposed the transformation of vacant lots in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. into neighborhood commons. These small urban spaces served as low-cost interventions to improve the quantity and quality of community gathering spaces and recreational facilities in dense urban areas.
In 1964, Whitney North Seymour Jr. advocated for the creation of pocket parks in New York City during his tenure as president of the Park Association of New York. Congressman John Lindsay endorsed the creation of pocket parks in his 1965 campaign for New York City mayor, and Paley Park, a premier privately owned public space and prominent example of a pocket park, opened during his mayoralty in 1967.
One of the first municipal programs to fund and structure the creation of pocket parks in the United States occurred in Philadelphia. In 1967, a $320,000 urban beautification campaign encouraged community groups to identify and nominate disused parcels for development into pocket parks. Upon approval, the city provided technical knowledge and financial support to residents, who would collaborate with city officials to design, construct, and maintain the new parks. From their onset, these pocket parks were well received by municipal workers and residents. To this day, the City of Philadelphia manages over 150 neighborhood parks.
Development and design
Pocket parks typically develop on small, solitary, irregularly shaped, and physically damaged lots. Because these parcels may not be conducive to commercial development, the land on which they are situated is often relatively cheap to acquire, and transforming the neglected parcel into public or green space may be the only viable opportunity for redevelopment. Thus, the placement and creation of pocket parks tends to be an opportunistic product of environmental circumstance rather than through deliberate master planning.
Due to their small size, pocket parks typically serve a hyperlocal population, and the limited opportunities for park form and function are closely tied to these local community needs. For example, a pocket park in a business district may prioritize tables and seating for employees to take a lunch break, while a pocket park in a residential area may prioritize a structure for children to play on.