How can we better optimize our use of existing parking facilities and lots? One way is to implement a shared parking strategy in which nearby property owners who have different peak hours of parking demand share their lots with one another. 

Prior to the introduction of Parksmart certification, there was no third-party sustainability certification available to our clients for their new and existing parking garage projects. Not only were our new design clients looking for a sustainability certification alternative, but clients with existing parking garages also wanted a certification that recognized the efforts they had made toward sustainability. Parksmart certification provided the solution for both types of clients.

Smart Parking is a parking strategy that combines technology and human innovation in an effort to use as few resources as possible—such as fuel, time and space—to achieve faster, easier and denser parking of vehicles for the majority of time they remain idle.

In a large office building or mixed-use development, parking garage ventilation can represent 30 percent or more of the property’s total annual energy bill, consuming upwards of 400,000 kilowatt hours per year. In some cases, ventilating the garage consumes more energy than lighting the facility.

In the future, there will be parking lots…but not as we know them today. Parking lots will be fundamentally transformed by a Second Electrical Revolution, a Green Infrastructure Revolution, and the rapid shift of mass consciousness to an eco-friendly Spaceship Earth Paradigm.

When it comes to sustainable parking, how we park is just as important as the technologies we use. After all, the greenest parking space is the one we don’t have to build.

Practices that encourage more efficient use of existing space or that reduce demand for parking are each important elements of a green garage. Unlike technology upgrades, many of these practices can be employed in existing facilities to increase the sustainability of operations without substantial capital investments.

Parking practices that do more with less include

Well-designed parking facilities are high-performing and efficient—and ultimately, they support local communities and our planet, as well as helping to drive profit. Architect, lecturer and author Shannon Sanders McDonald writes in her book, "The Parking Garage: Design and Evolution of a Modern Urban Form":

What are the benchmarks of a well-designed parking lot? In Rethinking A Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking, Eran Ben-Joseph explains: 

Parksmart is the world’s only sustainability rating system defining and recognizing sustainable practices in parking structure management, programming, design and technology. An industry-driven, field-tested roadmap for new and existing parking structures, Parksmart recognizes the forward-thinking facilities shaping tomorrow’s sustainable mobility network.

Placemaking is an effort to reimagine public spaces as areas that help strengthen a community's relationship to its surroundings. It involves a civic approach to planning, design and management by capitalizing on a local community's assets and potential.