Jeez, well, there are SO GODDAMN MANY parking lots, I think that we could have a little bit of everything: housing, gardens, small businesses, parks, nature, et cetera. My answer is, then, “whatever the local community currently lacks.”
This is what land use planning is in /c/[email protected] is about. Consultation ins an integral part of deciding what to do with a development after it’s finished. Not all land uses necessarily need to support wildlife habitat or ecosystem redevelopment.
If it were up to me? I’d talk to local ecologists/climate scientists along with the local community who would be exposed to and/or utilizing that space and see what they felt was best for their area.
If this is a blue-sky scenario, I’m going with: space dedicated to growing food or producing power (like with solar pv between rows of crops that need some shade). This will call for minimal pathways to access some of the spaces, probably also water lines for irrigation, plus strategically placed keystone trees like oak and some fruit-producers as well
Agrivoltaics and multistrata agroforestry are super cool. I know this sub is primarily about sustainable urbanism, but I love me some sustainable pastoralism as well. I want a world with denser cities so we can make way for more nature and sustainable agriculture instead of endless sterile suburbs.
Parks and sports areas covered with solar panels if in one of the hotter places. Maybe event areas for concerts, markets, whatevahs
A lot of empty lots in Denver get absolutely filled with prairie dogs already. They’re cute but also reproduce like mad with no natural predators in suburbia. We need more ferrets to eat them, they’re even more cute imo.
Really cool stores, parks, things like that.
I currently live in a place that doesn’t have that many people parking, yet we still have a bajillion parking spaces. They tear down a perfectly good building and build a parking space, then proceed to make it seem like some great thing for the community when in reality it will be used by no one but drug dealers (in cars)
If you’re in the US or Canada (or maybe some other places as well), that’s likely a result if parking minimums. Climate Town has a really good and comprehensive video on them here. Essentially, the developers are legally required to build a certain minimum number of spots, based on the use of the building and the floor space. But these numbers are completely arbitrary, based on pseudoscience, and based on expectated max (as opposed to typical) usage. Buildings that existed before the laws were enacted in the mid 1900s were grandfathered in, but any substantial renovations or new developments require the developers to acquire neighboring properties and demolish them to satisfy the mandatory parking minimums.
The whole thing is truly insane and results in so much needless waste.
Makes sense, though in my case a lot of these parking lots are straight up built in the middle of nowhere, knowing that they serve no purpose.
Some are just way oversized as well, for instance, the capacity of grocery store parking lots far exceed the maximum number of inhabitants even if you have a single person per car. Absolutely insane.
Parks, urban forests, community gardens, libraries, local shops, communal spaces, HOUSES.
Gorgeous opulent tombs full of the ruling class, that everyone can enjoy for hundreds of years.
deleted by creator
Honestly, I’m okay with parking lots if we can do away with street parking.
Oak, burch and hazel groves. No other reason than those are my favourite trees.
I’d rather delete them than replace them. Move everything closer together again. But you can’t reverse time, so homes and parks are probably the best options. Businesses, museums… schools if feasible.
God I would love to see a network of tiny walkable neighborhoods connected by reliable public transit in place of the fields of asphalt we have now
Prairie dogs are literal vermin, they destroy roots and they’re infested with bubonic plague.
If vermin, why so cute?
Flea markets?
deleted by creator
A sea of cat cafes.
![[meme] What would you replace parking lots with if it were up to you?](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/1144f2b2-14d2-4d61-b9c7-98071d1a20eb.webp){kind=link}