Peter is a partner with Creative Cities Productions and the founder of the Creative Cities Summit, which will be held in Detroit, October 13-15th. He consults for the Creative Economy by focusing on entrepreneurs, arts & cultural organizations, cities and technologies... which is, oddly enough, what he'll be writing about.
Peter Kageyama - Post 4: Thinking Creatively about Uncreative Things – Parking
Posted By: Peter Kageyama
Posted: 9/24/2008
Parking is a problem in every city. Or is it? Does the city have a parking problem or a parking expectation problem? We all want to park next to our destination. Every merchant says they want people to be able to park right in front of their store. But even more than convenience, we all want a vibrant urban and retail scene that encourages lots of people and activity. In large urban areas, like NYC or Chicago, people don’t expect easy parking so they plan accordingly. For years most of our downtowns have been ghost towns after 5pm so we have gotten used to the idea of easy parking. If we are successful in reinvigorating our cities, we will need to change our expectations of convenience.
And have you noticed that American obesity is at an all time high? Maybe we should think of parking and transportation as a health issue as well. Think of that. What if we asked our planners and transportation engineers to be part of the overall solution to public health. How would that change their thinking? Would they simply say “that is not my job” or would they rise to the occasion and be part of the solution. I don’t know but I would really like to find out!
For more creative thinking about our cities, please join us at the Creative Cities Summit 2.0, October 12-15 in Detroit.