this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Solarpunk Urbanism
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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.
- Henri Lefebvre, The Right to the City — In brief, the right to the city is the right to the production of a city. The labor of a worker is the source of most of the value of a commodity that is expropriated by the owner. The worker, therefore, has a right to benefit from that value denied to them. In the same way, the urban citizen produces and reproduces the city through their own daily actions. However, the the city is expropriated from the urbanite by the rich and the state. The right to the city is therefore the right to appropriate the city by and for those who make and remake it.
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Because there's already so much parking available, right?
When I'm driving my mobility impaired grandma to her eye surgery, I want a parking space. Driving in major cities is already enough frustration, no need to add more.
Yes, there literally is. Very often, parking minimums are set to accommodate peak parking demand and parking lots sit >50% empty 99% of the time.
Very often parking minimums are set to accommodate 120% of peak demand - that is even on the peak demand days there are many empty parking places.
In your country, maybe!
It's definitely true of the US and Canada, and very likely Australia and New Zealand too. Maybe it's not so excessive in the UK or Ireland, but still, most of the English-speaking countries have been infected by 1950s USA's misguided influence.
If there were sufficient public transport that was accessible, then you wouldn't need to
Also the cities that have the most investment in things like multimodal public transit are also the best cities to drive in. If you just genuinely want or need the car those cities are better then the cities designed for the car. Designing for the car creates the worst outcomes for the car.
Parking requirements were established in an entirely unscientific way. And they've never really been updated.
A city with a lot less parking would be one that was easier for Grandma to get around in even if she was getting around in it in a car. People with significant disabilities are pretty much the only ones who should expect parking when they go to places.
The best cities to drive in have populations of around 5000 people. Just enough population that there are things to drive to (very limited things, but still things), but not enough that there is congestion even during what passes for rush hour.
Or places like Amsterdam that regularly rank top cities for drivers because they can afford good planning and maintenance on their svelt network. Because people who don't want to drive just don't.
It's easy for a small town like you described to have just brutal congestion. And they routinely do, in the US, when the whole town is a highway offramp wart off an artillery feeder road made up of commercial parks and box stores. They end up with chains of back to back streetlights and tons of left turns across traffic and are always a headache to get through - not to mention dangerous. And they're the most universal sight in North America.
Not in a town of 5000. That sounds more like 50,000 people. At 5000 even a highway offramp cannot support many big box stores. Either that or a.suburb, which might have only 5000, but the drivers from the rest of the MSA visit and add up.
I'm definitely with you on that.
Fewer parking spots is not a solution on its own... It's a natural consequence of good public transportation network. No one really enjoys to spend hours on traffic to go anywhere.
It is a solution on its own. Many cities have far more parking than they need - even on "black friday" there are empty parking spaces. Those parking spaces could be redeveloped to something else (not all of them as that something else will also need parking)
Of course the more you redevelop those empty parking spaces, the denser you get and the better chance is that public transit will work. The more people who arrive via transit the less parking spaces you need as well, which means more empty parking can de redeveloped.
That's what handicapped parking is for.
Since I'm the driver, I can't park there.
It isn't about the driver, but the passenger.
Not sure how it works in your country, maybe it's different. Here you car needs to have a visible disability permit or you'll get fined. Only the car owner can apply for the permit. I'm the car owner.
My country allows for a placard that can move between cars as long as the handicapped person is there to provide identification if asked by the police.
How are senior citizens with mobility difficulties an outlier? Are senior citizens in your country a minority or are they all joggers?
He's saying she should have a tag that hangs on the rear view mirror that can be put on your car when you drive her around (as opposed to a handicap license plate that can only be used with her car).
In my country only the car owner can apply for a disability permit. I'm the car owner, she doesn't even have a driver's license.
May I ask what country? Yes, the person who needs the placard applies for it, but in most places that can go on whatever car they ride in, so long as they're actually in the car.
In my country a disabled person can get a tag that they hang in whatever car they are in to mark that car as able to use a handicapped space - they are expected to switch that tag between cars when they get a ride with someone else.
If the handicapped person owns a car they can also get a special license plate on their car thus ensuring they don't have to keep track of that tag.
What if health insurance paid for necessary taxi rides? Not every mobility impaired grandma is lucky enough to have family members to be their personal chauffeurs.
I caregive as well. What we truly need are five-minute cities and things like tricycle taxies that I can safely take anywhere.
@pathief @ProdigalFrog it's just physically not possible to build enough parking for everyone to always have a park. You have trouble finding a park because that's just the physical reality. Adding more parking (like adding more lanes) doesn't increase availability because of induced demand and the inherent inefficiency of cars.
Reducing parking won't reduce the parking available to you. Just as reducing the number of car lanes won't reduce your ability to drive places.
Throw gran in the basket of your huffy.