31–40 of 209 posts
I wonder why we don't see more developments with underground parking. Imagine a three-level underground parking space with a small public park on top. Access would be gated to residents of the surrounding buildings. You should still have some above-ground parking for deliveries, friends visiting, etc. but you can have the majority of parking underground.
Still, it is pretty common here in Northern Virginia.
Why is there no multilevel parking? All that space can't be cheap. Is there zoning laws against it?
It wont work for high-rise buildings of course, but for slightly-less-central blocks that are say 4 to 6 floors, each apartment gets a parking space.
Correct it's no vibrant, bustling organic downtown. But it's still a helluva lot better than nothing at all. The suburbs I grew up in? There were a bunch of shitty strip malls, and a single indoor mall with a single food court with zero natural lighting, taken over by teenagers after school because it was literally the only place to congregate besides the parking lot outside the supermarket. There was no local "cente…
This would waste less surface area to parking lots but would add some cost.
So his issue is people needing someplace to park their cars? They arranged the buildings in an aesthetically pleasing way to disguise all the parking, I say bravo.
I think he's barking up the wrong tree. The problem isn't "movie set urbanism", it's just boring, old "too much parking". Too much parking creates sparseness which reduces walkability. But putting parking behind stores ("movie sets") creates a human scale street space. While organic urban growth should be cherished, there are extreme cases, like most American towns and cities, where urbanism needs to be forcefully bo…
Really I think these "main streets shops" are designs to replace strip malls in suburban environments, which in my opinion is infinitely better.
> Until you deal with the parking problem—which is done by building truly mixed-use places where people can meet their daily needs without hopping in the car—you haven’t created true urbanism. Daily needs means jobs for both you and your spouse, which won’t be in some random subdivision in Florida. It means schools, which don’t appear to be there either. It means the kids’ after school activities, again, missing from…
What about public transport?
This style is not new. The earliest planned community in Reston VA built 50 years ago [1] uses this approach, except the housing is more integrated. Housing above the shops and immediately adjacent produces the ambiance of a walkable community around a lake. Still, it has to be surrounded by parking lots. There’s just no way around it unless you move all the work and the schools there too. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.…
Correct it's no vibrant, bustling organic downtown. But it's still a helluva lot better than nothing at all. The suburbs I grew up in? There were a bunch of shitty strip malls, and a single indoor mall with a single food court with zero natural lighting, taken over by teenagers after school because it was literally the only place to congregate besides the parking lot outside the supermarket. There was no local "cente…
A bit more expensive but they could add a few underground floors for parking. In cold , snowy climates this might even be an advantage. This would waste less surface area to parking lots but would add some cost.
I think he's barking up the wrong tree. The problem isn't "movie set urbanism", it's just boring, old "too much parking". Too much parking creates sparseness which reduces walkability. But putting parking behind stores ("movie sets") creates a human scale street space. While organic urban growth should be cherished, there are extreme cases, like most American towns and cities, where urbanism needs to be forcefully bo…
Anecdotes and all that but for me, there is also definitely a weird psychological factor when walking past big parking lots in the city I live in. It's just... weirdly oppressive in ways I cannot properly articulate, especially living in a city that predates cars by a couple hundred years. It feels like it takes longer to walk past even if it is the same size as the surrounding blocks (or even if it's smaller!).
I think he's barking up the wrong tree. The problem isn't "movie set urbanism", it's just boring, old "too much parking". Too much parking creates sparseness which reduces walkability. But putting parking behind stores ("movie sets") creates a human scale street space. While organic urban growth should be cherished, there are extreme cases, like most American towns and cities, where urbanism needs to be forcefully bo…
If you don't have of street parking you get congestion as people park on streets - that is the reason why planners mandate of street parking.
Of course, it's not a perfect solution - you need exceptions for the elderly and infirm who need regular care visits; some sort of guest permit for anyone who hires tradespeople; and people who need a work vehicle have to do without a non-work vehicle, or be forced out.
And it's a whole lot more fair if you set the rule before people buy the homes, rather than imposing it later.