• n2burns@lemmy.caEnglish
        6·
        9 months ago

        It’s even better when it’s done in a different colour. Then it makes it really clear that the freeway is wider than the 3 parking that abut it on the left.

  • lntl@lemmy.mlEnglish
    43·
    9 months ago

    *car storage

    space used for cars would include streets, roads, and highways as well

  • KGB@lemmy.worldEnglish
    182·
    9 months ago

    Why aren’t there more underground or at multilevel parking available instead of the expensive real estate used as parking lots anyway? Surely it’s more efficient is it not?

    Genuinely curious here.

    • demonhockey@lemmy.worldEnglish
      201·
      9 months ago

      Garages are expensive to build and if you design your roads so that no person with the means would choose anything but driving and ignore the rest, then sprawl becomes the reasonable choice, since people are driving to every destination anyway. What’s the point of the added expense of a garage if you don’t really care about being close to other things nearby?

      • KGB@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        9 months ago

        I mean it could free up more space for apartments and other mixed use buildings in the area. Gives a chance for the walkability in the area too, if executed well.

        • Magiccupcake@startrek.websiteEnglish
          121·
          9 months ago

          Yes but that’s socialist.

          And goes against my donors paycheck.

          /s but many people in charge are willfully ignorant that society can be built in a way that doesn’t rely on cars.

    • Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
      181·
      9 months ago

      In addition to what others have said, parking lots are also an easy and cheap way to keep vacant land for speculative purposes.

      Basically, our current property tax system allows you to buy a vacant lot, sit on it for a number of years while paying pennies in taxes (because a vacant lot or a parking lot is very low value, even if the land is very high value), and then resell for a much higher price after the city has grown around it. Basically no work, but tons of free profit.

      The remedy? Tax land instead. That way, your tax burden is based on the value of your land, not the value of your improvements, so that this form of land speculation becomes uneconomical, while also strongly incentivizing you to develop something more valuable, e.g., housing, offices, etc.

      • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.mlEnglish
        4·
        9 months ago

        There is a guy near where I live that I think does this. One of the lots has a tiny restaurant on it that I’m like 95% sure is a front, with a huge parking lot. They’ve bought a few lots nearby and do by the month parking permits. The whole area is being turned into apartments so it feels like he’s just sitting on them for the right offer.

    • SuiXi3D@kbin.social
      111·
      9 months ago

      Not much underground because Houston is basically a swamp.

      Nothing up high because why do that when there’s a whole bunch of flat ground?

      Never mind the lack of public transport, bike infrastructure, or the general fact that literally everything is built way to far apart to make walking an option…

    • baldingpudenda@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      9 months ago

      Houston is built on a swamp so you can’t really dig a lot without dealing with humidity, water, etc. Multilevel means investment and debt. It can take many years to break even. You can make $25/hr per space and quickly make profit and sell in 10 years for 10 times what you paid for. There are multi level parking though.

      Basically, it’s greed.

    • paraphrand@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      One reason is it is millions of dollars more expensive to build underground parking.

      I think I’ve seen examples where the underground parking for a commercial building costs as much as or more than the building above.

    • formergijoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      There is underground parking in downtown Houston as well, but during heavy rain they flood like crazy. I want to say the underground garage near the theatre district was closed for a few months after Harvey.

  • friend_of_satan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    9 months ago

    That color scheme is really hard for my color blind eyes to see, since the orange (?) and green blend together, but dang, what a fucking statement it makes! Just imagine what could be there if people weren’t driving. Amazing visual.

  • zik@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    At some point all there’ll be is car parks and nowhere to actually go once you step out of your car.

  • meiti@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    9 months ago

    in Houston one would suffer without a car. it’s designed completely around cars and trucks.

  • hex_m_hell@slrpnk.netEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    Assuming the random dafa I got off the internet is true, 5% of the US is covered by parking and the area of the US is 2.4 billion acres, digging these fucking things up and planting trees could sequester about a billion tons of CO2 per year (while, you know, preventing billions of tons from cars). Making all surface parking in to parks with grass and trees could sequester about 6 billion tons per year.