Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://places.designobserver.com/feature/rolling-to-a-stop/34598/ en-us Design Observer Group 2012-07-04T16:20:56-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0 Parking lots need to become parks.
I call it the "ParkPark®" Program - P3.
A destination you want to go to - transition from the suburban trip highway/ high speed auto to the urban environment and the pedestrian or slow speed EV and bicycle mode. Bring the folks back to City and create economic activity.
Lots can be paved with solar roadway panels for power generation on site- see http://www.solarroadways.com/home.shtml
(they are in the middle of their prototyping phase of a parking lot) - or shaded and cooled (value added) with tree-like PV arrays - see http://envisionsolar.com/solar-tree-array/. This is plug and play ready now.
Or for future, develop portable arrays that lease the space.
Here's some science -
http://vtb.engr.sc.edu/vtbwebsite/downloads/publications/Parrallel-Connected%20Solar%20PV%20Systems.pdf
EV recharging stations solved.

Every parking lot could have the potential of RV trailerable businesses, food trucks, rolling retail, carwash and basic mobile care auto maintenance services.
Portions can be given over to small groves of trees or fruit bearing orchards and gardens. Already we see farmers markets appearing ad hoc.
Car sharing, yes - but also bicycle rentals, scooters, "Segways" and other novel/fun human or electric powered vehicles.
ParkPark is a program for any parking lot or parking structure.

OK - there - Happy Birthday America, now y'all go do it...
I'll be working on a prototype here in Sacramento, CA.
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Future of parking lots look very different than today. They'll look like co-sharing commercialization spaces reducing waste while increasing value.

Closest examples today are day-use rentable personal cars parked near people's homes, such as Peer-to-Peer car sharing today like Getaround and RelayRides.

Once bullet train transportation become mainstream in even farther future, you can then combine Train travel + Co-sharing cars + adhoc parking spaces.

Future of parking lots has an organic looking form (via a meta structure) with forcing functions (via computer software modeling) handling commercial transactions and routing people/car-to-car/people communications. Too confusing? Lets make it simple with a fun hands-on activity!

To help you demonstrate this image of future parking lots:
1. take a map of your country, e.g. United States
2. take toy cars
3. take toy people
4. take toy trains
5. now lay out train tracks with stops in between cities and surburbs
6. now lay out roads that cars can drive hyper locally in between train stops
7. now lay out parkable spots on city and surburbs, or off the road in people's garages
8. congratulations! with your hands, you've just built a model representation of the future of parking lots :-)]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/rolling-to-a-stop/34598/#comments 2012-06-23T19:14:58-05:00