Strategic Stillness: Urban Configurations Achieved Through Parking

This dissertation examines parking phenomenon being indicative of broader strategies in urban transformations. Throughout this analysis, parking has remained a physical counterpart of immaterial negotiations between business owners and residents, car manufacturers and city planners, drivers and pedestrians, traffic engineers and architects. Twentieth-century mobility systems and land use practices have generated a negative spiral due to a heavy reliance on private automobiles. Cities and whole metropolitan areas have gradually been rebuilt to accommodate the individual needs of their residents. In this process, cities have been becoming significantly more fragmented, while residents continued to favor automobiles. Some contemporary parking management systems remain compliant and accommodating while others act as a restraining mechanism. This continuous negotiation between individual desires for freedom and public policy goals has been central in this project.
The analysis of main case studies in Copenhagen and Los Angeles along with secondary case studies in Hong Kong and Moscow has shown that parking can be behind a large-scale zoning change; it can play a vital role in preserving historic neighborhoods; it can influence housing affordability, commercial heterogeneity, and resident demographics.