Source: Victor Dover

The most beautiful parking lot in the world

Parking is a necessity in cities, whether it involves residents storing cars for days, shoppers and restaurant patrons occupying spaces for hours, or Uber drivers stopping at the curb for minutes. The same holds true whether the car, or other vehicle, has a conventional or electric motor. 

But the parking does not have to be a blight on the city landscape. This photo of the Anenue D’lena in Paris, France, comes from a presentation by urban planner Victor Dover. He calls it “the most beautiful parking lot in the world,” because there are six lanes of parking in the photo, providing spaces for a large number of cars. That the street is beautiful is self-evident.

These parking lanes could be configured in many ways—as spaces to store cars, motorcycles, scooters, or bicycles, for pickup and deliveries, or bicycle lanes. The uses could change over time. The thoroughfare is beautiful anyway. Notice, also, the lack of surface parking lots lining this thoroughfare. Reducing the number of surface parking lots makes for a more beautiful and walkable city or town. We should be designing our streets for multiple functions and shared use. 

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