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Dina Safa
Soc-316 Literature Review
October 10, 2013
The Environmental Issues Related to Parking
Ever since our society has become more dependent on cars as a main source of
transportation, we have had the issue of parking. It has been said that a regular car is parked
nearly 23 hours a day and uses multiple parking places each week. The general population has
been so dependent on their cars that people don’t think of the consequences of supplying endless
amounts of parking when needed. Parking places occupy nearly 10% of all the land in our major
cities and we end up spending a lot of money to park our vehicles. Most businesses get money to
build parking indirectly through taxes, their retail goods and rent but the general population has
no idea how much money actually goes to build these parking places. Not only is it extremely
costly to provide spaces for your car on the ground but it also needs yearly maintenance, which
many people are unaware of.
I have chosen to look at studies that involve the environment problems and consequences
with parking. The goal of the paper is to make people aware of the environmental issues
associated with parking cars and how it can lead to other serious issues down the road. Looking
at environmental issues is critical when it comes to parking management. Most parking planners
and business owners don’t take environmental issues with building parking spaces into account.
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Not only does providing adequate parking lead to taking away grassland, but it can also create
flooding problems and air pollution. More recently there has been an increase in store sizes,
schools and businesses which in turn leads to higher demands in parking. So high that parking
spaces end up exceeding the daily demand and taking away land from the ecosystem.
There are many types of parking across the cities and the suburbs in our country. Some of
the most popular ones are surface parking, on-street parking, structured/underground, metered
and commercial parking. Besides sharing the common factor of providing a space for your car,
they all come with different costs and each have a different role in the community. For example
surface parking usually has low to moderate construction costs but they require a lot of land for
each space meaning it takes away grassland and trees from our ecosystem. Often times these
types of lots serve one big store but hardly ever fill up the whole parking lot on a daily basis. On
street parking is more eco-friendly because tree/grass removal isn’t necessary but it frequently
causes traffic on the streets.
When planning to make large parking lots, there are factors that need to be considered
before starting the building process. Businesses looking to build parking need to first determine
the number of spaces that are needed especially when the demand is high (Christmas and
thanksgiving). Many urban planners “generally believe that parking is a problem only when there
is a shortage of it” (255, Davis). Based on this statement, I believe there are a lot more parking
spots in places that aren’t being used. Urban planners believe it is better to have too much
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parking then too little. This raises another issue where “Increasing supply helps reduce parking
congestion and spillover problems but increases most other problems” (10, Litman).
With that in mind, after the business figured out how much parking is needed, they often
don’t think about the environment around the parking lots. Aside from the land being used for
parking spots, the constant use of parking contaminates freshwater with runoff that includes
grease, oil, and traces of metal, contribute to emissions released in our atmosphere and increase
pollution in general. Parking lot sealants (applied to pavement of the parking lots every 3-5
years) have also been notorious for hazardous runoff which has a lot of chemicals that end up as
pollutants in urban streams. One study in Sacramento, California was focusing on the 1983
Sacramento Ordinance where parking lots were required to have 50% of the lots in shade
preferably with trees. Parking ordinance such as these have been proven to not only enhances
urban design, but it also improves the environment. The Sacramento Ordinance wanted to
ensure that the distribution of the shade in the parking lot is adequate. Being part of the Cool
Communities Program (CCP), the goal is to make sure that parking lots decrease pollution and
lower the temperatures of these lots especially in the summertime.
Although planting trees and conserving grassland around parking increases shade and
decreases temperatures, it also increases the maintenance cost of parking. This includes “repair
of pavement and curbs damaged by tree roots, litter clean-up, and property damage caused by
tree failures during storms”(116, McPherson). Many businesses try to avoid extra cost involving
parking environment because tree removal can be extremely costly. A sample of 15 lots was
looked at with tree damages, trunk wounds and health issues and it was concluded that the cost to
repair these trees was nearly $23,265 cumulative for all lots.
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Another environmental issue related to parking is vehicle emissions that are released into
the air from engines, engine exhaust particles and particles from the rubber tires on our cars. This
includes parking in garages (that end up being highly concentrated because of smaller space),
open spaces (big lots) and in the cities, exhaust emissions are constantly released from motor
vehicles and we end up breathing it. It has been found that “Exhaust pollution from parking
establishments, parking houses, garages and open area parking, has not until now had a major
impact on air quality problems in modern cities and wider urban areas”(39,Hoglund). Although
parked cars contribute a good amount to the general emissions being released, speed changes,
entrances, exits and ramps also add to the mess. If that isn’t enough, when there isn’t sufficient
parking in parking establishments, cars continue to circle around to find a spot which in turn also
disrupts traffic and release additional emissions into the air.
A pilot study was done in Stockholm, Sweden to see if there is any difference in vehicle
emissions released from two different types of parking; curbside and a new parking garage. It
was assumed that because the parking garage is a closed area, the emissions would be much
higher as the fumes would take longer to exit the parking area. The study revealed that it “did not
give any significant differences regarding the emissions from traffic to the area with a parking
garage compared with traffic to the area when the cars were parked at curbside” (44, Hoglund). It
did reveal however that there are about 40% less emissions from parking in the garage then
curbside which I find quite surprising. Although not many studies have been done concerning the
environmental issues of parking, this study finds that garages and parking houses are actually
more environmentally friendly then parking on the street.
Because our cities have been growing population wise, more cars are being used and
parking is becoming less and less available. Instead of focusing on the parking lots that exceed
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the daily demands of people, we need to focus on our environment and how we can reduce
emissions and pollutants. Based on these four studies included in my paper, it is safe to say that
“parking lots take up considerable space, are costly, reduce ecosystem services, and contribute
toward runoff and pollutants” (260, Davis).
It can also be concluded that environmental issues such as emissions and pollution related
to car parking “should be given a much more significant attention in the future town and city
planning process”(45, Hoglund). There are many unknowns of how hazardous parking planning
to the environment can really be because of the lack of studies done, but if we begin to take care
of trees and grass around the parking areas, that could be considered a start. People can help
reduce vehicle emissions by car pooling to supermarkets and shops because little differences like
these will make a big difference for the environment in the future.
When it comes to maintenance of parking lots such as adding sealant every 3-5 years,
management should be extremely careful of what they put into these sealants because most of it
ends up in river streams and water pipes. In other words,”Excessive parking requirements waste
resources, both directly, by increasing the money and land devoted to parking facilities, in
indirectly by increasing automobile use and sprawl. Better parking management actually tends to
be more conservative overall” (16, Litman).
Based on these studies, I concluded that environmental issues that are associated with
parking need immediate attention so we can reduce pollution, emissions and excessive runoff,
but in order to achieve this, parking facilities need to economically invest in the issue and be able
spend a little more money than they usually do to better the community.
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Works Cited
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Davis, A., Pijanowski, B., Robinson, K., & Engel, B. (2009). The Environmental and
Economic Costs of Sprawling Parking Lots in the United States. Elsevier, 1, 255-261.
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Hoglund, P. (2004). Parking, Energy Consumption and Air Pollution. Elsevier,1, 39-45.
Retrieved October 7, 2013, from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969704003535
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Litman, T. (2013). Parking Management.Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 1, 1-21.
Retrieved October 7, 2013, from http://www.vtpi.org/park_man_comp.pdf
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McPherson, G. (2001). Sacramento's parkinglot shading ordinance: environmental and
economic costs of compliance. Elsevier, 1, 105-123. Retrieved October 7, 2013, from
http://iesp.uic.edu/Publications/Faculty%20
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