Urbanism and Parking Demand in New England Cities

This paper explores the influence of specific urban design factors on parking demand in three traditional and three contemporary New England commercial centers. The authors found that the character and structure of the centers in terms of building density, street and sidewalk design, and the management and organization of parking as well as the population densities and street structure of the surrounding neighborhoods result in very different transportation outcomes. For example, Nearly 25% of the users at the traditional downtowns travel by means other than the automobile compared to only 9% at the contemporary sites. These differences resulted in traditional centers that were much more vibrant than their contemporary counterparts; in fact, the traditional centers had 250 more pedestrians on their streets at any one time and a total of 1,300 more people w ith 400 fewer automobiles parked on site. To view the academic paper submission, click here