Abstract
Lacking of innovations and flexibilities in the design of surface parking lot leads to a truth that most of the standard surface parking lots are designed exactly the same. So that most of our urban area, dominated by these surface parking lot, have become uninviting dead field. This research proposal aims to argue that the potential of parking lots could be designed not only for parking but also as the setting for modern public space. Through investigations of the parking history, the ecological disparities caused by its imperviousness, and also the well-designed parking lot case studies. This research proposal intents to create a framework for parking lot design, and further attests that the underutilized single use surface parking lots could be transformed into delightful multiple used public spaces.
Key words: Parking lot, Public space, Ecology, Sustainable Design
Surface Parking lots has become one of the most obvious single use landscape features of our urban environment. In some U.S. cities, surface parking lots dominate more than a third of the land area. These surface parking lots, characterized by high levels of disturbance, impervious paving and heat retention, have significant impact on the design of city and the quality of our built environment. However, the design of surface parking lots have not been serious thought over since 1950s. In most cases, the design of surface parking lot is only focusing on its size, entry and exits, and minimum number of spaces required for new development. And the regulations of the number of the parking spaces on one site are based on the peak use, which is only applicable a few days of the year. Therefore, the utilization of some surface parking lots (those parking lots cover a large area of land but with only a few cars using it during most of the time) turns out to be unreasonable.
Figure 1， Based on the current parking lot design regulations, most of the surface parking lot , taking up valuable land, may only experience peak use a few times a year. Photo by Antonio Silveira
History of Surface Parking Lot
Knowing the history of surface parking lot is crucial for people to understand how could parking lots become one of the most common features in our urban environment. In the early 19th, the early parking lot were normally built in the vacant lots as temporary land uses. However, as the increase of the car usage, the demanding for more parking spaces have become more necessary. Moreover, landowners soon found that leasing a parking lot on a hourly basis is more profitable than leasing square footage in a building because it required little maintenance and site renovation. Therefore some land owners started deconstructing unsuccessful buildings to pave more surfaces for parking. The parking lots was beginning to play an important role in the delineation of the American Landscape.
Off-street parking first time emerged in zoning in August 1923: “ The first reported ordinance was in Columbus, Ohio, requirements were composed which prescribed that off-street parking spaces be provided in connection with multiple-family dwellings.” By 1925, about 20% of the commuters drive to work in the United States. Then in 1935, the first parking meter were installed in Oklahoma City. By 1938, 85 cities in 26 states, were using approximately 24,000 meters. In 1941, the city of Philadelphia passed the Parking Lot Ordinance in response to the abuse of parking lot, which aims to restrain those land owners who operating commercial parking lots. By 1946, over 90% of Americans were commuting by car and 12 states had implemented specific off-street parking requirements in their zoning ordinances. And by 1953 the number had grown to 33. The proliferation of surface parking lot seems never stop. Even though the whole industry was trying to increase the efficiency and density of these lots, the Downtown area of most of the United States cities has still been increasingly eaten away.
Looking back to the history of parking lot, it is not too hard to realize one truth that parking lots were perceived as pragmatical sites since it exists. They have never been rethought as anything else other than parking. However, the increase of the amount of automobiles, not only in the United States but all over the world, has forced the existing of parking lot has become a considerable feature of contemporary city. It fragmented the fabric of traditional cities and promoting the urban sprawl. In this case, the way how did we conceive the traditional design of parking lot should be alerted immediately.
Figure 2，Area devoted to parking in downtown Indianapolis, 1914, 1942, 2000. Source Author’s field survey, as cited in Lots of Parking
Environmental Concerns for Surface Parking Lot
“More than one third of the surface of the average downtown city is paved. In Los Angeles two thirds of the surface is paved”. Most of the surface parking lots are paved by asphalt. It has become the most commonly accepted ground surface material in our built environment. However the existence of these impervious surfaces severed the relationship between human and nature and resulting in severe ecological disparities, such as stormwater runoff, urban heat island and decreases in natural habitat.
The stormwater runoff is a serious consequence caused by highly density of developed land. For instance, “A one-acre parking lot produces almost 16 times the volume of run off as that from a similarity size meadow”. The impervious surfaces stop stormwater infiltrating into the subsurface soil and recharging the underground aquifer as well as the surrounding water body. To be more specific, “In natural wooded conditions, 10% of stormwater runs off, 25% becomes groundwater through deep infiltration, and 25% goes to shallow infiltration to reemerge eventually as the base flow for streams.” On the contrast, in the high paved surface parking lot with surface imperviousness more than 80%, more than 55% of the stormwater runs off to the sewer system. Therefore, The rampant existing of surface parking lot could also add more pressure to the city sewer system and cause flooding. The stormwater runoff could also pollute the nature environment by transporting poisonous substance, such as agricultural byproducts, lawn chemicals, automotive oils, heavy metals, pesticides to the surrounding water body. In 1992, the EPA declared that “more than one third of the nation’s rivers and nearly half of its lakes are unfit for drinking, swimming, or fishing.” As we incoherently paving the undeveloped land piece by piece, we have also manufactured a problem of stormwater runoff. In this case, surface parking lots are one of the greatest generators of polluted and poorly managed stormwater runoff, among other environmental concerns.
Figure 3, Parking lot at Chicago downtown holding the rainwater from infiltrating to the subsurface soil. Photo by Zheng Cong
Another environmental concerns relating to the proliferation of surface parking lots is urban heat island effect. Compared to natural vegetated surfaces, The surface temperature of surface parking lots, composed by asphalt, could be 68 to 104°F higher. It is because asphalt pavement is darker in color and contains less moisture sediments. The asphalt paved surface parking lots absorb most of the heat from the sun during the day and slowly release heat overnight, which produce a dome of warm air (Urban Heat Island). Therefore the city’s overall temperature is normally higher than the rural area.
Figure 4, Areal image of Detroit downtown, lots of surface parking lots but with only a few trees standing on them.
Urban heat island indirectly contributes to global warming because it related to the greenhouse effect. Along with the increase of temperature in the urban environment, the overall energy consumption for cooling(e.g., air-conditioning, refrigeration) will rise. Hence the power plants have to produce more electricity, which leads to higher emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Furthermore, according to NASA’s remote sensing experiment, during the day time, the temperatures in the middle of the parking lot could reach about 120°F. However, if the parking lot has a small tree island planter with a couple of trees, the temperature could be reduced by almost 30°F. But the question is how often do we see tree planters in a traditional surface parking lot (fig.4)?
There are about 1,096,352 acres of land paved by asphalt in the United States. And surface parking lots contribute a great value to this total number. As surface parking lots have become one of the most environmentally destructive features of the contemporary city, the significance of eco-friendly design strategies should be emphasized not only for the future projects but also for the existing underutilized lots. Surface parking lots could have been healthy and sustainable spaces, if it had been taken care of with an eye towards environmental sensitivity. Given the context of the ecological issues caused by asphalt lots, the design strategies of surface parking lots should take in sight of the environmental concerns and significantly reduce the effect of stormwater runoff and urban heat island.
Case Studies
Surface parking lot is laking of physical features, to some extent, this openness allows surface parking to accept more diversity interpretations. Despite the proliferation and environmental impact caused by surface parking lot, we should take in sight of the potential that surface parking lot, with or without parked automobiles, could be delightful spaces. Surface parking lots can be designed as a syncretic part of the surrounding environment instead of a isolated island. They can be social and cultural assets which could benefit the surrounding neighborhood and they could also be constructed with less or no environmental disruption,
Conclusion
A city is comprised of two orders; the constitutional, which is the physical framework of streets, lots and blocks, and the representational, the activities which take place inside the framework.
These publics have altered the representational order of the parking lot from automobile storage to varied public realm, despite the lot’s limited constitutional framework; this is not a unique phenomenon. Parking lots, because of their prevalence and indispensability, are ideal public spaces for the representational changes which foster the public realm.
This thesis proposes two strategies to improve the public space of the parking lot and create public realms. First, design the constitutional framework to support activities including, but not limited to, the storage and conveyance of automobiles. Second, augment the representational order through transient supplementary program. If both the constitutional and representational orders of the parking lot are changed, it is certain that the perception and role of parking lots as utilitarian voids in the urban fabric will change as well.
In conclusion, surface parking lot in contemporary city should not just be considered as a piece of pragmatical asphalt square. A well-designed parking lot should be the one that integrates its site conditions, take insight of its impact on environment, gives consideration to aesthetics, most importantly, it should have the flexibility and complexity to become significant public space which could contribute to the surrounding communities. In order to make this to come true, we have to realize that surface parking lots have become one of the most definitive landscape of contemporary city and its serious impact on environment. Moreover, certain regulations about designing surface parking lots have to be modified according to the current situation of our urban environment. And we also need to reevaluate the existing surface parking lots and change the conventional perspective towards the existing of surface parking lot. Above all, surface parking lots need receive more attention, especially as something occupied such a vast amount of land, and been used on a daily base. It is time for all of us, especially landscape architecture, to think about, and design a surface parking lot more than parking.
Originally published 15.10.2019