Great use of a parking Space

Heidi, urban affairs student from Kansas City, found this post of what do with a metered parking space. I'll go one step further and say this would be a good idea for the spaces in front of fire hydrants. I, for one, am sick of seeing vehicles (usually 'official' vehicles) parked in these spaces.
Do you have an idea for a parking space? This may be usefull for next year's iNGENUiTY.

from the "i love this so much" files

Via Pednet, a great idea for putting parking meters to good use: turn the parking spots into parks!

Feeding the meter of a parking space enables one to rent precious downtown real estate, typically on a 1/2 hour to 2 hour basis. What is the range of possible occupancy activities for this short-term lease?

PARK(ing) is an investigation into reprogramming a typical unit of private vehicular space by leasing a metered parking spot for public recreational activity.

We identified a site in an area of downtown San Francisco that is underserved by public outdoor space and is in an ideal, sunny location between the hours of noon and 2 p.m. There we installed a small, temporary public park that provided nature, seating, and shade.

Our goal was to transform a parking spot into a PARK(ing) space, thereby temporarily expanding the public realm and improving the quality of urban human habitat, at least until the meter ran out.

The comments on BLDGBLOG provided even more suggestions for the rented spaces, but my favorite was: "Two or three consecutive spots and you could go bowling."