Along with the growth of society comes the growth of construction and the use of industrialized spaces. As parking lots become more in number and larger in size, it might be time to rethink the relationship between the urban and natural landscape. For instance, brainstorming how the two might coexist. We’ve put together some practical landscaping solutions that appease the growing need for parking spaces while maintaining the magic of mother nature.
Traditional Parking Lots & Consequences
Environmental Impacts
Traditional parking lots present significant disadvantages, both environmentally and socially. The first consequence we see is the absorption of sunlight by asphalt that generates high amounts of heat on sunny days. According to the Sustainable Green Parking Lots Guidebook, the temperatures in parking lots can reach 20–40 degrees higher than its surrounding areas. During the summer, parking lots can create what’s called an “urban heat island”, where the surrounding areas’ temperatures rise along with the lot’s. Not only does this make it harder to cool businesses, it fast forwards the deterioration of the pavement’s surface.
Storms play a big part in the erosion of traditional parking lots, but even more daunting is the deterioration’s impact on the area’s water quality. When rain erodes the surface of the lot, all of its chemicals– tar-coating sealants, dripped vehicle oil, and road salts, for example– are being washed away into adjoining streams. That storm water is also blocked from entering the ground, resulting in an increased rate and velocity at which the water leaves, potentially flooding the lot.
Social Impacts
Poorly designed parking lots with bad lighting, underutilized space, and lack of safety precautions can have a large impact on the surrounding community. When a parking lot has a lot of spaces that often go unused, it discourages community engagement by unnecessarily hiding the area’s architecture and unique natural views from the roadways.
Although most parking lots are designed with lighting and safety features to protect drivers, they seldom work due to ineffective lighting structures and lack of signage. Drivers end up with no visibility and unpredictable circumstances. The Sustainable Green Parking Lots Guidebook points out in its report that 20% of pedestrian injuries happen in parking lots.
Benefits of a Green Parking Lot
In contrast, green parking lots have an abundance of qualities that are both environmentally and consumer friendly. For example, these lots easily integrate into the already surrounding built and natural environment using “innovative stormwater management practices, vegetation, and sustainable paving materials to mitigate adverse environmental impacts of large expanses of paving,” says the guidebook. Sustainable lots also incorporate energy-efficient lighting and renewable energy sources to provide safe pedestrian circulation and create better public spaces, resulting in a healthier community dynamic.
Here are some practical solutions to get started:
- Shading and greening
- Tree canopies, vegetation, and other green space can lower the impacts of the urban heat island effect and stormwater runoff while improving adjacent property values and air quality.
- Naturalized drainage
- Described as a series of connected landscape spaces that absorb and infiltrate stormwater through one another, naturalized drainage manages rainwater as a resource and reduces risk of flooding and damaged water quality.
- Pedestrian routes
- Clear pathways into the parking lot, separated from vehicles by landscaping features
- Crosswalks with pedestrian crossing signs and speed tables to manage traffic
- Permeable paving
- Using porous pavement is another way to reduce stormwater runoff, allowing it to pass through the surface into open gravel storage beds underneath. The water can then be absorbed into the earth or collected in pipes for off-site discharge.
- Community character
- Planted landscape buffer between the street and parking lot
- Multi-use for event spaces, farmers’ markets, outdoor theaters, or food truck areas
- Include space for buses and bikes
- Featured spaces or “plazas” with natural elements to create pedestrian meeting areas and community focal points
- Light and energy generation
- Solar energy fixtures reduce the need for utility lines
- LED lighting are more energy efficient and last five times longer than conventional lighting
For more information, visit our Contact Us page to send questions or schedule an appointment.