Turning Parking Lots into Paradise: How Cities Are Creating Spaces For Their People
How do the song lyrics by Joni Mitchell go? “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Well, quite the opposite is true in many parts of the world, where cities are dedicating themselves to turning once unused or dilapidated parking lots into paradises of recreation for their people.
According to Adele Peters of Fast Company, there are many benefits to creating resident-friendly spaces in cities, and these benefits go beyond improving the happiness and life quality of citizens. “As climate change makes heat waves more common and average summer temperatures rise, parks can help offset the urban ‘heat island’ effect that makes neighbourhoods around paved surfaces even hotter,” explains Peters. The researcher adds that, in many cities, parking lots are one of the worst urban heat islands.
Cities Forum states that more and more cities are “carving out” new public spaces for their residents. In this article, Vice President and Director of City Park Development Adrian Benepe states: “I can’t imagine a worse use of land in a downtown area than a surface parking lot.”
Let’s take a look at the cities looking to make a positive impact and building resilient environments out of old parking lots.
1. Milan Makes Moves, Parking Spot for Park Spot
Comune di Milano
The Fashion Capital of the World is making moves on the world stage of climate change. The city is receiving praise for turning 250,000 feet of parking lot into a public space for locals. The project started in 2018, when a large-scale reinvention of Milan’s public spaces started taking place. In a simple yet refreshing solution, focus was given to converting car parkings into public plazas, especially in neighbourhoods with little green spaces.
2. The Big Apple Takes a Bite out of Climate Change
Kohn Pedersen Fox / Urban Design Forum
Say “New York City,” and immediately I am reminded of their iconic yellow taxis (aptly also the song title of Joni Mitchell’s environmental-themed song) and abundance of traffic. Now, New Yorkers are ready to take their city back. In this challenge to New York leaders, residents (with the backing of Mayor Eric Adams) are calling for 25% of The Big Apple’s street space to be converted into walkable pedestrian plazas, bike lanes, green spaces, and bus lanes by 2025.
According to this report, NYC currently has around 3 million free parking spots lining its street. This amount is more than the number of cars registered in the city, so you can see where the potential lies, especially as many New Yorkers make use of public transport.
3. Dallas Turns Downtown Into a Paradise
Bill Tatham / Archello
Clearly a running theme, Dallas in the U.S waved goodbye to an unused downtown parking lot way back in 2018 ––– perhaps the Ewing family was behind the innovative project? In the parking lot’s place now stands Pacific Plaza, a 3.7-acre public park surrounded by skyscrapers. It seems city paradise dreams do come true!
Milan, New York and Dallas are just three examples of these initiatives to take back our city centres and make them citizen-centric.
Which one is your favourite?
