It is immensely beneficial to retail shops that adjoin such parking. The second best form of parking is that which is in parking garages. Garages provide longer parking than on-street parking, and provide more protection for the car from weather and perhaps vandalism. Garages take up far less downtown land than off-street surface parking. Also the fact that they are vertical helps define and enclose the public realm. The least kind of parking that people like is that of surface parking lots. These lots fail to define space. They create ugly, dead zone gaps in the downtown fabric while leaving pedestrians feeling exposed and unsafe. They also tend to attract undesirable behavior from students and teenagers. They tend to increase downtown maintenance costs by far more than on-street or garage parking. They detract from the unique and walkable ambience that is often so important to a downtown area (Nozzi, n.d.)
Parking is often constructed on a regular basis. In most cities new development within the city is contingent on the ability to create new parking. And even though all cities seem to have a shortage of streets and freeway space many often have a surplus of parking. This surplus arises because parking is an automatic part of the planning process, and is thus often in the works many years ahead of when it is built (Manville and Shoup, 2005).
The market often mediates the supply of parking in most urban areas. Some believe that it may be better to simply deregulate parking in order...
It is felt that this market-oriented approach to parking would eliminate cumbersome regulations, remove incentives to drive, and let city planners concentrate on matters that seriously need their attention (Manville and Shoup, 2005).
There seem to be many advantages and benefits of increasing the parking supply for those drivers who need parking and for those businesses that are dependent on the parking being available. The city planners and politicians though do not always agree on the best way to achieve happiness for everyone with an increased parking supply. There always seem to be issues at hand surrounding the costs as well as the available space that may be utilized. Most people who agree that there is always going to be a need for increased parking as long as the automobile is most people's preferred method of transportation, so planning for increased parking should be something that every city does on a regular basis.
Works Cited
4.3 Management of Parking Lots. (n.d.). Retrieved from Sustainable Urban Transport Web site:
http://www.proudcities.gr/sust_tran_chapter4_3.htm
Manville, Michael and Shoup, Donald. (2005). Parking, People, and Cities. Retrieved from Web
site: http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/People, Parking, CitiesJUPD.pdf
Nozzi, Dom. (n.d.). Downtown Parking. Retrieved from Web site:
http://www.walkablestreets.com/downpark.htm
