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Greener 'P'

Can we turn parking lots into paradise?

PATRICIA CHISHOLM

Special to The Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 11:32 AM EDT 01/08/07

Architect at PLANT Architect Inc. aims to transform Toronto's 'Green P' parking lots from featureless rectangles to mini-parks ...Read the full article

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  1. Michael Sharp from Island Paradise, Canada writes:

    I was struck by the forward thinking of Toronto City Council, "New styles of porous asphalt paving, mixed with tougher materials – such as recycled glass – would reduce the waves of heat that typically bounce off these lots."

    Asphalt and ground glass.

    A better Toronto awaits!

    You guys are wacky.

    Didja know Toronto was the 5th largest city in North America?
    Mexico City, New York, LA, Chicago, Toronto.

    Bigger than Detroit, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Denver, and a host of others.

    Toronto is huge!

    They breed like Canadians!

    A great big Canadian city wondering what to do with asphalt and ground glass.

    Victoria is a much nicer place.
    I'm so lucky.
  2. Vincent Clement from Sunny South, Canada writes: Michael Sharp: Facts have never been your strong point. The only thing you are capable of is repeating ad nauseum how wonderful Victoria is. I've been to Victoria and will confirm that it is a wonderful place. Can we move on?

    Didja know that those numbers refer to the population of the municipality not the entire metropolitan area?

    The City of Detroit has less than a million people; the Detroit metro area has a population of 4.5 million people. Boston proper has almost 600,000 people, while the metro area has 4.4 million people. Atlanta has just under half a million, but there are almost 5 million people in the metro Atlanta area. Vancouver is closing in on 600,000 citizens and the GRVD is around 2.2 million.

    But why should facts get in the way of making a statement or two?
  3. Geoffrey Diss from Berlin, Germany writes: That Canada's two major cities still have inner-city parking lots at all is embarrassing. Ugly things. One of the telltale signs of being in North America... Inner-city Europe has no such thing.

    It's an unavoidable eyesore in the suburbs, but in a city like Toronto why not build strategically located parking buildings on some of the sites of existing lots?? (And design them to look like anything but.) The dozens of other lots could be slated for construction or turned into mini-parks - whatever suits needs best.

    Oh yeah. Build a proper subway system, Toronto. European-style gas prices are only a matter of time.
  4. Michael Sharp from Island Paradise, Canada writes: Vincent Clement from Sunny South:

    While I never tire of rah, rah, Victoriah, it's not academic... Toronto's hugeness. So you say Detroit is 4.5 million, Boston, 4.4 million, Atlanta, nearly 5 million.

    And Toronto has over 5 million, right?
    Which makes it bigger.

    But why should facts get in the way of making a statement or two?

    Anyways, I'm trolling, gently of course, but it's undeniable.
    I shall let you guys get on with your debate vis-a-vis ground glass and asphalt and the Brave New Toronto and bother you no more.

    Perhaps I'll go for a sail this aft.

    Tra la.
  5. Brendan McIntyre from Toronto, Canada writes: Well, it's a little off topic, but what about all the parking lot space down at the Exhibition. Could we not tear down the better living center, and a couple of others, put the parking lots underground, and turn that huge piece of prime real estate into a lovely neighbourhood with work and home all close by. Think of all the money the city would make selling or leasing the land. We would lose the Indy and the EX itself, but i think this is a major way for Toronto to better itself.

    Brendan
  6. Stan L from Canada writes: How about we get ourselves out of banruptcy first and then let's focus on making toronto prettier to look at.....G&M come on now! a weath of tantalizing doings at City Hall and we get a 'let's make things pretty' series.....you're missing the elephant in the room with these stories, like who's going to pay? and exactly where does this fit in a priority list as compared to....transit or affordable housing etc....
  7. Michael Sharp from Island Paradise, Canada writes:

    Sorry to bother you guys again.

    But there doesn't seem to be much interest in discussing the beautification of Toronto.

    6 posts in three days?

    The opposite of love is not hate.
    It's disinterest.
  8. Independent Conservative from Your town, Canada writes: This is a great idea. It just makes sense.
  9. Lou Laroche from Canada writes: We should use the land to grom pot, and then people can smoke it on their breaks.
  10. One Canadian from Canada writes:
    Put an amusement park around the giant rectal thermometer.
  11. Peter Kells from Ottawa, Canada writes: How about passing a bylaw that vacant lots be a thing of the past. If speculators must sit on property then while they are sitting on it require that it be used to either grow crops (this is done all the time in Japan), create a temporary green park space or a "green" parking lot as noted above. Additionally, why not create "small car" parking lots to encourage the adoption of smaller vehicles? For example, decide on which cars produce substantially less greenhouse gas and allow them to park for free or for a significantly reduced fee. This would reward the users of more environmentally friendly vehicles. There are still lots of occupations where public transit is not practical such as salespeople, consultants etc. Why not encourage these people to use smaller vehicles by offering parking incentives?
  12. ALASTAIR JAMES BERRY from Nanaimo BC CANADA, Canada writes: There is no obvious reason why parking lots could not be paved with 'HOLLOW BLOCKS', the holes running vertically can be filled with soil which will grow grass(and weeds) but allow water to penetrate the subsurface soils. The 'dividers' in a parking lot presently often support the lighting poles. surely some could be altered to accomodate trees?? These two relatively small alterations would lessen the heat trapping effect of the large shopping mall parking platz as things stand at present. In addition trees trap dust and other pollutants and give a bit of welcome shade too.

    If one goes Taipei for instance there are large public parks with trees , paths, bushes, wading pools and a lot of grass . Underneath the cool tranquility of the surface, there are huge multi-level parking lots accomodating hundreds of cars. We could usefully try that in Toronto.
  13. Douglas Freestone from Canada writes: ALASTAIR JAMES BERRY from Nanaimo BC CANADA, Canada writes: "There is no obvious reason why parking lots could not be paved with 'HOLLOW BLOCKS', the holes running vertically can be filled with soil which will grow grass(and weeds) but allow water to penetrate the subsurface soils."

    I have seen this work very well in several Latin American cities. It would be hard to do in dryer climates, but cities that receive fair rainfall... why not?
  14. Anon Imus from Canada writes: There is a new site on Facebook.com:

    Movement Against Mediocrity - Planning Toronto Better: "A site focusing public opposition to a seemingly unending series of poor planning decisions in Toronto."

    A worthy effort.
  15. Robin D Watkinson from Hartlepool, United Kingdom writes: Toronto is probably the nicest city in North America, I saw it in a 7yr period 70-80; I trust it has got better. Green Parking Lots are a vital part of the picture.
    I was an British Architect, RIBA, working as a designer for an Important Toronto Engineering company, Giffels.
    I did my bit for Ford in Windsor.
  16. Michael Sharp from The Salish Sea, Canada writes:

    Smog alert!

    Just kidding.
  17. Bill Smith from Chicago, IL, United States writes: Geoffrey Diss--what are you talking about? European cities are OVERRUN with cars. Piazzas in Rome have cars parked everywhere. There's no enforcement (tickets, towing, booting) of cars anywhere in continental Europe. Cars park anywhere & everywhere in Irish towns. Smart car owners park perpendicular or diagonal half on the curb. There's no fear of illegal parking in Europe because there's no enforcement. London is the ONE exception to this rule because most streets aren't wide enough to support parked and moving vehicles simultaneously.

    A few years ago, Chicago was doing a test run of semi-porous roadbeds in alleys. (Don't know what ever happened to that program). Basically, the asphalt alley gets torn up and replaced with a concrete X pattern. (Think of the X pattern that everyone uses under their front porch). The holes in the middle go into the ground and are either packed with dirt & grass (that doesn't grow too tall) or pebbles. Either way, rainwater seeps into the ground instead of draining into the sewer system.

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