There are a lot of parking lots in the United States. Parking lots are problematic when it comes to the environment for many reasons. To start, parking lots are sources of water pollution because of the use of impervious surfaces. When it rains, all of the rain that falls onto a parking lot becomes urban runoff, which is dirty water that is not safe to even water plants with. Parking lots are dirty places that are filled with gasoline, motor oil, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's), heavy metals and trash. When it rains, all of that stuff goes into the storm drain, which then goes into the waterways, polluting the habitats of numerous species.
Parking lots are also sources of the heat island effect, which is the effect that describes the increased ambient air temperature in a city due to an excess of concrete and paved areas. The heat island effect is significant and has even been shown to change local weather patterns. The heat island effect of parking lots can be somewhat mitigated by providing trees throughout a parking lot, but the effect is minimal.
Parking lots also take up a lot of space. Most parking lots are designed to accommodate the busiest days of the year for the business that the parking lot serves. So, that means that on one or two days a year, a parking lot will be filled to about 90% capacity. For the remaining 363 or 364 days of the year, however, the average parking lot sits at far less than half capacity. That wasted space could be used better for a park or smart development.
To sum it all up, the current parking lot paradigm leads to an overabundance of parking, which costs every community character and vitality. The current parking lot paradigm increases the urban heat island effect and causes a loss of recharge to drinking water supplies and aquifers. It also creates polluted runoff. So, many experts and environmentalists now advocate for smart parking.
Smart parking is an idea that addresses the problems of parking lots by implementing a variety of innovative techniques like tailoring standards, managing demand and improving the design of parking lots. Smart parking also incorporates alternative transportation. With smart parking, local conditions are monitored to track the average use of parking lots so that the total area of a parking lot is used frequently. Smart parking also incorporates a sort of mixed-use model, where significant areas of green space and plants are present to mitigate the urban heat island effect and to enable rainwater to percolate into drinking water aquifers. Another aspect of smart parking is multiple peak parking. For example, a smart parking lot can serve an office building during the day and serve as parking for restaurants and movie theatres during the evening. That way, the parking lot is used frequently rather than creating dead zones. Smart parking also limits parking supply and reduces the demand for parking in many ways in an effort to curb single occupancy car travel. Smart parking lots offer facilities for alternative transportation methods as well as incorporating pricing policies to encourage carpooling.
EnviroCitizen.org challenges you to take a fresh look at parking lots and the affects they have on the environment. Consider carpooling or taking public transportation next time you travel somewhere, reducing the need over time for excessively sized parking lots. |
