SFBC Rec Ride: Lots of Abundance

By Abigail Shull
Jun 7, 2010

"What happens to abandoned lots and former freeways? Learn about
reclaiming land for public use and restoring connections to food.
TransitionSF and the San Francisco Permaculture Guild are leading these
Transition Tours showcasing local efforts that create community and
support both the environment and economy."

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Who Will Preserve Our Nation’s Urban Parking Lots?

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 30, 2014

A historic preservation group in Cincinnati put together the above video, meant to make us think critically about some of the most fiercely guarded yet least loved places in our cities: parking lots. Kudos to the Cincinnati Preservation Collective for bravely defending the spaces that help make Cincinnati much like every other mid-sized city in […]

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Get Your Cameras Ready for Half-Empty Black Friday Parking Lots

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 26, 2014

It’s standard practice to build parking lots to accommodate the maximum number of vehicles expected on the busiest shopping day of the year. As a result, acres and acres of unnecessary asphalt make communities less walkable, waste land, funnel polluted runoff into our groundwater, erode tax bases, and drive up prices for lots of other […]

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The Spectacular Waste of Half-Empty Black Friday Parking Lots

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 1, 2014

If there’s one thing American planners fear, it’s that someone, sometime, somewhere, won’t be able to immediately find a parking space. Gigantic manuals have been devoted to avoiding this “problem,” and laws have been passed in nearly every community in the nation to ensure that no one ever lacks for parking. Chuck Marohn at Strong […]

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New Jersey Gets It Wrong on Parking Lot Privatization

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 14, 2010

We’d all like to see parking prices raised to reflect the demand for parking and the real costs associated with maintaining parking infrastructure, or — better yet — the elimination of much of the surface parking that overruns cities, making them less walkable and transit friendly. So the idea of parking lot privatization — theoretically […]

Even a booming city like Seattle still has a lot of land tied up in parking lots. Photo: The Urbanist

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The Case for a Tax on Parking Lots

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 18, 2017

Parking lots make cities less walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly. They crowd out space for housing. But with a parking lot tax, incentives change and using parking as a placeholder becomes a lot less attractive.

SPUR Lunchtime Forum: Taking (temporary) root: Pop-up storefronts and an urban farm in Hayes Valley

By Abigail Shull | Apr 19, 2010

"Learn about two innovative ideas for “interim uses” for vacant lots in San Francisco. One concept, called “Proxy,” developed by envelope A + D would install portable retail, restaurant and gallery structures on two lots along Octavia Boulevard. Another, proposed by the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, calls for a community farm on a 1.5-acre lot […]