From Portland to New York City, parking lots in the United States are being transitioned from unsightly sprawls to productive urban spaces. All in the name of the coniferous tree:
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 25-30 million live trees will be sold in the U.S. this year. Some of these will be bought at the farm that grew them, some will be delivered, some will be available at your local big-box department store. But some will be carefully arranged in rows and stacks between candy-cane stripped poles, transforming parking lots and vacant parcels into little pockets of coniferous woodland.
Thought about a different way, the entire country is being organized into a sort of installation:
[S]trip away the commercial purpose, and installation of 25 million trees in hundreds of thousands of ½ acre dioramas — every year — around the country would is an impressive ‘urban installation’ to rival any Agnes Denes Wheatfield or Robert Smithson Non-Site and to dwarf a REBAR ‘Parking Day’.
See also: Park(ing) Day 2009.
