More flowers, fewer cars: the rewilders turning parking spaces into parks

‘Meet you at the planter’: Lynne Friedli (second left), gardening with neighbour Helena Farstad and helpers Hennie Farstad McKeown, Roy Hanson, Jesse Hanson and Ebba Farstad McKeown in Islington, north London. Photograph: Urszula Soltys/The Guardian

As more towns and cities bring in measures to curb traffic and the number of cars on the streets, the idea of converting parking spaces into “parklets” is gaining traction. These tiny green parks are part of a trend in urban rewilding by individuals that is boosting biodiversity across the world.

‘The council came at 5am and took our garden away’