Comments on: Time to Reinvent the Parking Lot

By: reggie

reggie — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:34:52 +0000

Very interesting ideas on how to get a lot more out of parking facilities. Really shows how they can be used for much more than what meets the eye.

By: tyler

tyler — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 21:25:33 +0000

Great examples of how parking garages can be much more than just the typical bland concrete structure.

By: Aurora Kovanen

Aurora Kovanen — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:14:02 +0000

I agree to the title it is time to reinvent the parking lot. Most of the time parking is problem for people who have a vehicle. In Finland they develop their parking lot with help of some parking lot companies which are specializing in creating a good location for parking space.

By: Ann Hoagland

Ann Hoagland — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:27:39 +0000

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, CA, has installed sun tracking solar panels over the parking lot for their Brew Pub. It’s wonderful to have some shade in the parking lot since Chico’s summer sun is extremely hot. It’s also wonderful because Sierra Nevada is working towards being 100% off the grid.

By: todd toups

todd toups — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:04:11 +0000

I hope the new parking lots include more space to park in.I would pay to park in a bigger space without having dings in my car from other happy shoppers.

By: Kevin W. Parker

Kevin W. Parker — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:44:20 +0000

There’s a parking garage in Annapolis that looks like an overgrown Georgian mansion.

By: Nuala Galbari

Nuala Galbari — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Thank you for an interesting and timely article that offers good alternatives to concrete slab. I would like to see more natural, porous materials, such as crushed stone, used in parking lots. Landscaped islands could then support healthy plants, shrubs and trees that would not be choked by surrounding concrete. Mature trees should be protected in all these areas; developers often rip them out, whenever convenient, and counties all too often just look the other way. What about changing the concept of the ‘parking lot’ altogether to ‘parking and recreation area’? Many of the new highway rest stops have been designed with pleasing and healthy spaces, picnic areas, places to walk pets, and shade trees. We need to do a much better job in cities, considering all types of porous material that will support a healthier environment.

By: John

John — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:09:30 +0000

I’ve never heard of him, but I find Eran Ben-Joseph to be a man of like mind.

I’ve probably told everyone I know at some time over the past two decades that a solution to a number of (parking and other) issues here in Arizona is covered parking with solar arrays on the roof. Especially now, since (for some unfathomable reason) the construction and improvement of open-air shopping centers is on the rise, while malls are declining.

While it would likely require some government incentives/assistance/loans (and would be public funds well spent, IMO) to get things started, it could be started with existing technology. It would generate immediate and future benefits, public and private. It would provide initial construction jobs, long-term maintenance jobs, and power generation.

It would provide a long term economic boom to Arizona, if Arizona set a goal to have all existing (and require all future public and private) parking spaces covered with solar arrays by 2032.