Why Does Parking Have to be a Bad Word?
By Kevin White, CAPP, AICP and Jaime Snyder, CAPP
As a trained planner, I don’t have to remind myself of the value of good planning. The merits of good planning (and the outcomes of bad/no planning) are reinforced by experiencing and observing different cities, traveling, talking with stakeholders, and experiencing different communities. As it pertains to parking and mobility systems, bad planning or a lack of strategic planning can be observed in half or mostly empty (and very expensive) parking garages, infrastructure in poor condition and in need of repair, large swaths of mostly empty surface parking, confusing or faulty technology, confused customers, traffic back-ups getting in and out of facilities, and mobility systems with obvious gaps access or in service.
Before any specific designs are created, before any technology is procured, and certainly before anything is actually built, conducting a thorough and thoughtful strategic planning process is a must. The importance of strategic planning in the planning, design, procurement, and construction (installation) life cycle is a critical aspect of our work this year on IPMI’s Planning, Design, and Construction Committee. We look forward to sharing more about this topic in June’s issue of Parking & Mobility. We are eager to engage with the broader parking and mobility community to hear from you about what good planning means to you: what are the pitfalls of poor planning? How we as professionals can promote thoughtful strategic planning to lead to facilities, systems, operations, and communities that are more equitable, sustainably, efficient, connected, enriching, and resilient?
Kevin White, CAPP, AICP, is a Parking and Mobility Consultant with Walker Consultants, and co-chair of the IPMI Planning, Design, and Construction Committee. He can be reached at kwhite@walkerconsultants.com.
Jaime Snyder, CAPP, is a Senior Parking Consultant with Walter P Moore & Associates, and member of the IPMI Planning, Design, and Construction Committee. She can be reached at jsnyder@walterpmoore.com.
