Fast Co.Exist presents the work of the Long Island Index, which recently undertook a creative problem solving exercise to explore ways that suburban parking lots could encourage more walkable conditions.
Adele Peters shares the results of a recent exploration of the future of suburban parking lots by Long Island Index. The nonprofit asked four firms to produce designs across the spectrum of pragmatic to visionary. The idea isn’t to eliminate parking, but rather to start a conversation about how downtowns can become more walkable.
“One challenge in doing so was the fact that residents on Long Island--where the first suburb in the country was born--weren’t ready to give up parking spaces. And they didn’t like the idea of parking garages,” writes Peters.
The results imagine new parking lots for places like Ronkonkoma and Rockville Center. For the former, Roger Sherman Architecture + Urban Design “proposed a pair of huge, bubble-wrapped open spaces that are half garage, half playground” for a site next to a commuter rail station.
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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