DALLAS -- Just feet from lunch hour traffic, poet Fatima Hirsi is open for business. Her setup is simple. It involves a chair, table and typewriter. If you give her a topic, she'll write you a poem.
"This is where we see the sky look into the eyes of strangers," Hirsi spoke aloud as she typed.
Hisir has set up her makeshift office alongside dozens of people, using parking spaces for anything but parking. It's all part of a national movement fittingly called "Park(ing) Day."
"There is so much potential in every bit of space of Downtown Dallas," said Dough Prude, Co-chair of Park(ing) day.
The goal is to make cities around the nation reconsider how they use space in urban areas.
"For years we have been reserving so much land just for the single passenger vehicle, when look at how many people can fill up a single spot," Prude said.
Organizers have held the event in Dallas for the past seven years, and every year, they've seen it grow. They expect some 10,000 people to meander the middle of downtown Dallas Friday stopping at spots otherwise reserved for cars.
"It's really bringing a whole community together as opposed to having a car just, well, sit for all intents and purposes," Prude said.
For Hirsi, there's inspiration among the commotion.
"On a street where cars usually spent time stagnant, we take over the cement and build a city made of connections," Hirsi said.
They are connections made in a part of a street that will turn back over to the parking meters the next day.