Lockable space

Here's a curious story about car parking in Istanbul. In part of the city the local authority sought to address the congestion problem by installing steel barriers  on the kerbs, to stop cars parking half on the pavement, causing inconvenience and making the streets less safe and less inviting.

Apparently, as the municipal engineers moved out at one end of the street, the metalworkers moved in at the other end. They cut through the base of the barriers, welded-on flanges, and sold padlocks to the residents. Who now have a removable barrier and hence their own parking space.  It sounds like a triumph of practical enterprise over (a) lack of consultation and (b) lack of imagination. Unfortunately it privatises public space, so it's hardly an ideal solution. It will be interesting to find out what the authority's next move is.

I heard this story from English journalist Steve Bryant a few weeks ago, who lives in the neighbourhood in question, and while I was there I came across this example.