Volkswagen Belgium has just started a new ad campaign focused on urban areas. Their new Volksparking initiative starts with a mobile basketball net that moves along the back wall of a parking lot.

The net starts in a parking spot, where people can play a game of basketball in a parking spot. When that spot gets filled by a car, the net automatically moves to the next available spot.

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“Together with the MIT Institute of Technology in Massachusetts, Volkswagen was looking for new ways to better use existing parking spaces,” says Jean-Marc Ponteville of Volkswagen Belgium. “Because no matter how coveted [free parking spaces] are, if there is no car, they are virtually useless.”

Volkswagen’s campaign is focused on turning every space in Belgium's tightly packed cities into multipurpose spaces that everyone can use.

“In this way,” says Ponteville, “we can maximize and make the best use of our cities. Volksparking is a great start. It’s our first project, but one that gives a second life to our existing parking lots.”

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The campaign is a collaboration with Holland’s Unbranded and the first basketball net is in Ostend, Belgium. Ponteville says, though, that the idea can be modified and taken to any city.

“The possibilities are much larger than just sport,” says Ponteville. “Together with MIT, we’ve been looking at other creative applications … for example the concept could include picnic tables, pop-up skate parks, temporary markets  or a secluded  climbing wall.”

Our Belgian readers (are there any of you out there?) are invited to get in touch with Volkswagen Belgium’s communication partner DDB  and suggest their ideas via volksparking.be.

[source]