
Paved, but Still Alive: Taking Parking Lots Seriously, as Public Spaces - jseliger
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/arts/design/taking-parking-lots-seriously-as-public-spaces.html?_r=0&referer=
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Declanomous
I recently visited Cambridge, MA to help my brother move, and I think the
density of the city is quite nice. I was struck by how little parking they
have. I didn't miss my car at all for the few days I was in Cambridge and
Boston.

One of my friends and I were talking about parking lots recently, because we
had gone to do some shopping at a mall in Chicago. We both found the large
amount of parking (by Chicago standards) really off-putting. Parking lots
divide in the same way that highways do. A parking lot that has 5 rows of
parking seems small when you are in your car, but it's a wide space to cross
when you are on foot. In the summer large lots are at least 10-15 degrees
hotter than the surrounding area because of the blacktop, and during the
winter lots are ringed with walls of piled snow and ice. It's really off-
putting.

Parking lots are even more oppressive in the suburbs. I briefly worked at a
company whose office was across the street from a really nice outdoor mall.
I've always enjoyed taking a brief walk during lunch, and so I tried walking
to the mall a few times. Despite being across the street, it took about 10
minutes to reach the actual mall, crossing my building's lot, a six lane road,
and the mall's lot. Surprisingly, there was a crosswalk at the stoplight, but
there was no sidewalk at any other point in between my office and the mall.

I only went a few times, because it took so long to reach the mall that I
nearly had to head back as soon as I got there, and because drivers in the
area were completely oblivious to pedestrians. In the few times I went, I
nearly got hit several times by people who were only looking at the light, and
not looking for pedestrians in the crosswalk.

