These maps present how parking heaps “eat” U.S. cities
“The dual gods of Easy Visitors and Ample Parking have turned our downtowns into locations which are straightforward to get to, however not value arriving at.” The quote is from city designer Jeff Speck. It’s arduous to think about a pithier one to explain the parking pandemic blighting America’s metropolis facilities — besides maybe the title of a Bloomberg article on the identical matter: “Parking has eaten America’s cities”.
That article cites a 2018 research of the area and cash dedicated to parking in 5 American cities. In that yr, each Seattle and Des Moines had 1.6 million parking areas. New York Metropolis had 1.85 million, and Philadelphia 2.2 million. Tiny Jackson, Wyoming had 100,000 parking areas, roughly one for every inhabitant.
Seattle had 30 parking areas per acre, roughly 5 occasions the variety of residential items. In Des Moines, the parking-to-housing ratio per acre was round 20 to 1. Solely New York had extra housing items than parking areas per acre. That labored out to 0.6 parking areas per family (however then once more, solely 45% of New York households personal a automobile).
On common, about one-fifth of all land in metropolis facilities is devoted to parking. However what’s the precise hurt being achieved by all that parking area? For one, metropolis facilities which are extra “parkable” change into much less walkable. In different phrases, fewer issues are casually accessible.
Even should you’re no fan of strolling, maybe you want a roof over your head. Nevertheless, the abundance of parking areas, typically mandated for brand spanking new developments by metropolis governments, has left lots much less area for the rest, making housing in metropolis facilities scarcer and dearer.
The Parking Reform Community (PRN), a non-profit “educat[ing] the general public in regards to the affect of parking coverage” and “accelerat[ing] the adoption of essential parking reform” has discovered a greater approach to make its level than its slightly bland mission assertion: maps.
The PRN took a have a look at how a lot land is wolfed up by parking in over 50 metropolis facilities within the U.S. And the outcomes will be fairly surprising. Let’s dive proper in on the deep finish.
Go to the middle of Arlington, Texas, and also you received’t have hassle discovering a parking area. You should have hassle discovering the rest, as a result of parking area takes up a minimum of 42% of town middle. Detroit was, or is, Motor Metropolis. Its middle can pull off one other automotive-related nickname: Parking Central. Absolutely one-third of downtown Detroit is devoted to letting vehicles do what they’re not designed for: standing nonetheless.
Guests to Lubbock, Texas come for the Buddy Holly Museum, however not for its vibrant downtown — as a result of there isn’t one. Right here’s a purpose: 35% of the land in central Lubbock is parking heaps.
Lookup “sprawl” within the dictionary, and also you would possibly discover a map of Las Vegas, so it’s maybe much less helpful right here than wherever else to demarcate a “middle.” When you do, for the aim of this research, you discover that 32% of downtown Vegas is parking area. Consider all of the casinos you would construct on these heaps!
However the scenario isn’t uniformly grim. Atlanta, for instance, is doing considerably higher, with simply 25% of downtown taken up by parking heaps. Doing higher nonetheless is downtown Los Angeles, admittedly considerably counterintuitively. Solely 12% of the middle of the Metropolis of Angels is devoted to parking area.
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So, which cities come out on prime?
If you wish to do away with your automobile in downtown San Francisco, you solely have a measly 4 % of the accessible land at your disposal. Simply three % of the central space of Washington, DC is dedicated to public automobile parking area. However New York Metropolis takes the cake. Only one % of this chunk of midtown Manhattan is parking area. It have to be that native actual property costs are too excessive even for America’s favourite toys.
People’ angle towards driving is altering. The share of highschool seniors with a driving license has dropped from 85.3% in 1996 to 71.5% in 2015. The rise of shared, multimodal, and (quickly, they preserve promising us) autonomous mobility will additional scale back the necessity for driver’s licenses, particular person vehicles, and large parking services in metropolis facilities.
Maybe it’s time for American cities to change into denser, extra lived-in, extra walkable — and fewer “parkable.”
For extra on parking areas, the issues they trigger, and the options to these issues, take a look at the Parking Reform Network.
Unusual Maps #1198
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