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theses

Structured parking is a key component of urban, suburban downtown, and exurban clustered developments in every metropolitan area across the United States. Due to the complexity of the redevelopment process itself, as well as its engagement of many stakeholders and decision-makers from the public and private spheres, the process does not reliably produce a holistic, aesthetic and integrated parking program that fully serves its context and users. The overall process of redevelopment is impacted as well, and this dissertation delves into the potential advantages from the design, development, and financial perspectives for getting the parking program right.

Standards and measures for improving structured parking that are situational and case-specific may not reflect user preferences, nor can situational standards consistently lead to improved outcomes for the redevelopment project as a whole. This is especially true when a range of demographic and social trends—including generational shifts, evolving technologies, and changing settlement patterns—are reducing rates of private vehicle ownership and use, and in tandem potentially reducing parking demand.

This dissertation demonstrates that by focusing on five key design criteria common to all structures—size, scale, massing, visual representation, and placement— the performance of structured parking can be enhanced. The standards derived from these criteria, in conjunction with guidelines drawn from architectural and urban design literature, can serve to improve both structured parking and the redevelopment’s overall quality and tenor. The findings of this dissertation can be used to enhance the redevelopment public policy framework and dialogue.

The dissertation utilizes multiple methods from both social science and design research: surveys and assessments based on census and direct sources; financial pro formas; iterative development of prototypes of structured parking; Visual Preferences Surveys™ to test user preferences of the prototypes in a range of development contexts; and interviews with officials and executives engaged in parking and redevelopment decision-making.

The dissertation’s final deliverables include: (a) best practice models of structured parking; (b) model regulatory guidelines for both freestanding parking decks and integrated structured parking in mixed-use settings; and (c) implementation standards and strategies. These recommendations are drawn from the survey responses and qualitative input of users, professionals, and public policy experts, and support from traditional urban design and planning standards. The structured parking standards are based on an understanding of the forms this building type has assumed over time, and the various traditions in urban and city building to which these models and standards apply, while maintaining a forward-looking consideration of possible future changes in vehicle ownership and use.

ETD_10558

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-msyr-qn79

ETD doctoral

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