You know the story, and probably all too well. When you need a parking space, there just doesn’t seem to be one around. Anywhere.

When you stop and think about it, that is kind of amazing because it is estimated that there are some 2 billion parking spaces in the country or about eight spots for every car, some suggest enough pavement to cover Connecticut and Vermont.  That’s a lot of parking.

Parking lots are ubiquitous. We can’t seem to live without them and, virtually every place we go, we expect them. If a business wants our business, it has some sort of parking arrangement. It’s been a vital part of the American way of life since some six decades ago which was about when critic Lewis Mumford pointed out, “The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is the right to destroy the city.”

Obviously, many see parking lots as blight, a necessary evil. But, let’s turn this car around and consider “ReThinking a Lot”, the soon to be published book by MIT urban planning professor Eran Ben-Joseph that takes a serious architectural look at parking facilities, pushing them conceptually into the 21st Century:

With purposeful design, Ben-Joseph argues, parking lots could be significant public places, contributing as much to their communities as great boulevards, parks, or plazas. For all the acreage they cover, parking lots have received scant attention. It’s time to change that; it’s time to rethink the lot. (MIT Press)

It turns out that parking lots are full of life, full of interesting behavior. Studies show those that park at the first available spot they come to and walk to their destination save time (and stress) over those that trawl for the spot nearest the door. An empty parking lot finds drivers ignoring lines and taking short cuts, but more carefully looking out for pedestrians than were those same drivers to move through a lot crowded with row after row of cars. Good for them.

At off times, parking lots fill with other uses: become flea markets, host lunch vans, become bus stops, impromptu sporting grounds, for instance. Look no further than the perimeter of the Columbia Mall parking and you’ll see the Goodwill truck set up, taking donations. That lot’s even the staging ground for Fourth of July and Festival of the Arts parades. Busy places. People places.

Not just somewhere to rest a car, parking lots are “the real entrance to a building.” This is something to think about, key to considering architectural responsibility in their design, development and maintenance, keeping in mind ways the space gets used, incorporating best new (green) practices, making better these places of utilitarian purpose and public gathering.

Can’t wait for the book? Check out the recent New York Times article (January 8, 2012) by architecture critic Michael Kimmelman that looks at the book and explores the issue in detail. Make sure to check out the accompanying photo gallery.

Another look at the book and article can be found here, at architizer.com.