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.
Oak, burch and hazel groves. No other reason than those are my favourite trees.
Excellent taste in trees, good sir/lady
I never understood the huge parking lots in the malls near where I grew up. I always thought “why not put in a garage?” It would use a 1/4 of the ground space and keep the same amount of parking and would leave room for more stores. But I like the idea of wildlife sanctuaries/parks replacing parking lots more than stores.
Parking garages are expensive compared to lots.
The mall probably also is in bumfuck nowhwre, meaning Therese bear unlimited space for other shops and their own parking lots
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
Pretty much anything else really - trees, gardens, parks, playgrounds, sports fields, markets, plazas, housing, business space. Hell - even just an overgrown vacant lot would be better than a parking lot.
Paradise. Put it back where it was.
Parks. With pedestrian infrastructure and free public restrooms.
Wind or solar farms if practical.
In the middle of the neighborhood? Can you imagine having to walk to the grocery store across a solar farm? Or having the noise of a wind turbine next to your local cafe?
If something needs to be there, I would choose parks or community gardens.
I can imagine walking under a solar farm, for shade and protection from rain.
Beats walking through an open paved lot for sure!
Well, hence “if practical”. Obviously, a wind turbine surrounded by existing multi-story buildings isn’t going to be useful anyway - so this wouldn’t be a good idea for inner city parking lots. But not every parking lot is in a city like that, so it really depends on the specific location. If the building near the parking lot is also defunct (like a lot of shopping malls in the US) then maybe tearing all of it down and putting turbines in the space would make sense.
For long-term society support we should be adding more power generation where we can, especially low-carbon options. Our need for energy isn’t going down and probably never will. Fortunately, solar and wind have both reached the point where they are the lowest cost/MWh option for power generation (even without government subsidies) so they are often the best choice, and probably more people would be comfortable living near a solar or wind farm than a fission plant.
Solar farms and skateparks
Flea markets?
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.
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.
People would replace them with new buildings, one way or the other
Cat parks? (is that even a thing?)
A sea of cat cafes.
Edible Gardens
24/7 cybergoth raves
![[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}