Lots of Parking

When the automobile was first introduced, few Americans predictedits fundamental impact, not only on how people would travel, but on the Americanlandscape itself. Instead of reducing the amount of wheeled transport on publicroads, the advent of mass-produced cars caused congestion, at the curb and i [...]
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When the automobile was first introduced, few Americans predictedits fundamental impact, not only on how people would travel, but on the Americanlandscape itself. Instead of reducing the amount of wheeled transport on publicroads, the advent of mass-produced cars caused congestion, at the curb and in theright-of-way, from small midwestern farm towns to New York, Chicago, Detroit, andLos Angeles. "Lots of Parking"examines a neglected aspect of this rise of the automobile: the impact on Americanot of cars in motion but of cars at rest. While most studies have tended to focuson highway construction and engineering improvements to accommodate increasing flowand the desire for speed, John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle examine a fundamentalfeature of the urban, and suburban, scene -- the parking lot. Their lively andexhaustive exploration traces the history of parking from the curbside to the riseof public and commercial parking lots and garages and the concomitant demolition ofthe old pedestrian-oriented urban infrastructure. In an accessible style enhanced bya range of interesting and unusual illustrations, Jakle and Sculle discuss the roleof parking in downtown revitalization efforts and, by contrast, its role in thepromotion of outlying suburban shopping districts and its incorporation into ourneighborhoods and residences.Like Jakle and Sculle's earlier workson car culture, Lots of Parking will delight and fascinate professional planners, landscape designers, geographers, environmental historians, and interested citizensalike.Published in association with the Center for AmericanPlaces