Why Smart Parking is a Cornerstone of Smart Cities

Have you ever thought about how important a parking garage is to the overall well-being of your city? Few of us probably have. But there is an entire industry around smart and sustainable parking solutions. Here at FutureStructure part of our editorial mission is to explain the concept of the city as a system and to tell the stories of not only what cities build but how things are built and how the things cities build connect with everything else. As it turns out, parking is connected in some way to every facet of the city – water, waste, energy and transportation are all factors of a sustainable parking system. FutureStructure spoke to Rachel Yoka, Vice President, Strategic Business Planning and Sustainability at Tim Haas, a Philadelphia engineering and architectural design firm that specializes in developing unique and effective parking strategies for vibrant and sustainable communities. Rachel is also the editor of a new book called Sustainable Parking Design and Management. Smart cities, she explained, in many ways start with where you park.