In Search of a Better Parking Lot


An intriguing op-ed in the New York Times focuses on how much land is given over to parking our cars and how we might make it perform better for us.


4 responses to “In Search of a Better Parking Lot”

  1. The transformation of parking facilities (lots, structures, etc.) is certain to be among the most far-reaching effects of the coming AV revolution. We will be able to locate them far from rider destinations because no one would have to walk between them and the parking spaces. The facilities themselves could be smaller because:
    1. drivers would no longer need to open the door to get out of a parked vehicle, and
    2. empty travel lanes would be unnecessary as vehicles could move themselves out of the way of cars being summoned by their riders.

  2. “It’s estimated that there are three nonresidential parking spaces for every car in the United States. That adds up to almost 800 million parking spaces, covering about 4,360 square miles — an area larger than Puerto Rico. In some cities, like Orlando and Los Angeles, parking lots are estimated to cover at least one-third of the land area, making them one of the most salient landscape features of the built world.”

    That is terrifying.

  3. The accompanying graphic in the print addition seemed to depict food trucks, but no mention was made in the piece explicitly of food trucks and other such uses that we find so commonplace in P-town… they were only covered as a generality of uses including teenagers congregating after hours, or some such… weird, huh?

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