I was on r/urbanplanning, the Reddit page for urban planning, when I came across the picture above. I found the picture striking because it forces you to visualize the relationship between the car and the city in an entirely new way. It leads to the unavoidable conclusion that the automobile and the infrastructure built to support its use has had an extremely profound effect on the way cities look and feel and the way citizens interface with one another.
The Car’s Footprint On Omaha
Downtown Omaha has over 41,000 parking spaces. Onstreet parking composes 4916 or about 12% of the total spaces with each parking space at about 180 square feet. In Downtown Omaha onstreet parking alone takes up just under 885,000 square feet of space or roughly 20.3 acres of the most valuable land in the entire state. This figure excludes the share of parking that goes to surface parking lots that are offstreet.
The I-480 Interstate cuts Downtown Omaha in two making it less walkable and discouraging commerce near the interstate.
Highway 75 North cut North Omaha in two destroying the local business community and disconnecting social capital networks.
The total projected economic cost estimate of all automobile accidents in Nebraska in 2017 was $943,674 200.
Mandatory parking minimums for new housing developments can raise the rental cost of housing by as much as 65% per housing unit.
Despite these facts, I don’t view cars as public enemy #1 but I do believe that more intentional planning must be done to counteract the deleterious effects of the automobile and its infrastructure. Omaha cannot divorce itself from the car but it can form a new accord between the car and the requirements of urban vibrancy.
In this article we’ll take a look at 19 different ideas that would allow us to reclaim Omaha (or any city really) from the car. The list of 19 is broken down into categories as follows:
Areas Under Overpasses
Car Junk Yards
Parking Garages
Parking lots
Policy
Roads
Street Parking
Let’s jump into the list:
1.Areas Under Bridges
I-480 Underpass Park
The picture above is of Toronto’s Underpass Park on their Waterfront District. Omaha could come up with a concept that I’ve been calling I-480 Underpass Park. The Underpass runs downtown from the river to Creighton and divides Downtown Omaha. A park system that ran the length of the overpass could have basketball, playgrounds for children, skate parks, tennis, futsol (a variant of soccer), dodgeball, dog parks, winter markets, rock climbing walls, and so much more! Not only would we reclaim valuable urban land from it’s current unproductive use but it would serve to connect NoDo with the rest of Downtown Omaha.
2. Car Junk Yards
Auto Junkyard As Paintball Field
There’s not much you can really do with a junkyard besides set it up to be a paintball course. North Omaha has a junkyard that would be a prime candidate for this sort of venture. Taking something that is currently an eyesore and scourge on the community and turning it into a unique recreation opportunity is just the type of ingenuity Omaha will need to become an elite city where the good life is possible for all.
3. Parking Garages
Parking Garage Converted To Housing
This is a photo of a parking garage in Wichita, Kansas that was converted to lofts. I prefer parking garages over surface parking lots any day of the week but in Omaha there are a few parking garages that are languishing and not getting much use. Downtown Omaha has a couple garages that see little use and this idea may be a good solution.
Rooftop Ice Skating Rink
This is a photo of an ice rink being built on the top level of a parking garage. If you’ll recall, in Winter 2017 a rooftop parking garage was in the works for Midtown Omaha. The rooftop plan never materialized but a rink was moved to a surface parking lot near Kiewit.
4. Parking Lots
Parking Lot Basketball Court Conversion
All that’s really needed is some paint and a basketball hoop installation before a parking lot can be converted into a recreation area. Other sports could also be played on the converted parking lot as well but basketball is probably the easiest conversion and there’s a dearth of bball in Downtown Omaha at the moment.
Permanent TailGating Park
Who doesn’t love tailgating? If you’ve got a glut of parking downtown and you’ve also got a culture that loves tailgating, why not explore the idea of creating something unique like a permanent tailgating park?
Urban Drive-In Movie Theater
This is an urban drive in theater. They’re sometimes referred to as guerilla drive in theaters because films are often projected on buildings without permission. It’s a great example of tactical urbanism and a fantastic example of how to reclaim parking lots from their boring use of warehousing vehicles.
Housing That Fits In Parking Spot
This probably isn’t the most practical idea on this list but it definitely helps jog your imagination. This house prototype was built by a firm in Helsinki, Finland and was billed as a house that could fit in a parking space. The three story house features a greenhouse like third floor along with a bedroom and living area.
Create Airstream/Tiny House Park
This gem is the handiwork of Zappos founder, Tony Hsieh. The Airstream Park is located near Dowtown Las Vegas and has tiny houses and airstreams that residents of the park call home. There is a really vibrant commnunity filled with campfires and musical performance. It’s a great way to put a chunk of unproductive asphault to use for cheap.
5. Policy
Get rid of parking requirements for new building
Parking minimums are antithetical to affordable housing initiatives. Studies show that rental units can become as much as 65% more expensive as a result of mandatory parking minimums for new building.
6. Roads
Create A Superblock
This Downtown Omaha superblock proposal is from 1964 so the idea is no stranger to this town. Superblocks or pedestrian malls involve permantly blocking off a street’s automobile traffic and allowing pedestrian life to flourish. The Old Market is a prime location for a superblock.
Create Pedestrian Mall
Iowa City’s Pedestrian Mall has a playground, pianos, concerts, etc. When I visited this summer the pedestrian mall had huge Jegna blocks, a ping pong table, and wood frame studios with games and bean bag chairs inside. The area restaurants have used the extra space to create enormous patios. The atmosphere in Iowa City on a summer night is awesome. If you haven’t been you definitely should! Military Ave in Benson would be a great place to close permanently to traffic to allow festivals and concerts to flourish.
Lay Streetcar Tracks
Setting down streetcar tracks is a great way to take back the city from the car. The permanence of the tracks sends a message to local businesses and pedestrians that there is a commitment to alternative transit. This photo was taken in Kenosha, Wisconisn, a town of less than 100,000 yet still has a streetcar and thriving central business district.
Lay Street Car Tracks Continued
In the above picture there’s a comparison of the amount of room taken up by pedestrians, the same amount of pedestrians in vehicles and then the same amount of pedestrians riding on a bus. A streetcar can hold more people than most buses (minus articulated buses). For instance, Toronto’s new streetcar can fit 85! As our urban core becomes a more exciting place that attracts all walks of life, density is inevitable and the streetcar tracks provide a signal to a long term commitment of health and vitality in the core.
Block Party
Block parties are a great way to reclaim the street from the car temporarily. Many cities make it easy to apply for a permit to block off the street and host an event such as a block party.
Median Protected Bike Lanes
Median protected bike lanes are unrivaled in terms of making cyclists feel safe. The dockless electric scooter startup, Bird, recently announced that it will begin funding protected bike lanes in cities, contributing $1 per scooter per day in each city it operates in.
7. Street Parking
Restaurant Patio Street Seating
This is a photograph that was shared in the 500 Millennials of Omaha Facebook group. It’s a pic taken in Iowa City and is a restaurant’s patio seating that has been extended by reclaiming the area from parking. Omaha could look into creating a permitting process so that that restaurants can rent out the spaces in front of their restuarants to extend/create patio seating.
Parklets
The picture above is of a parklet. The idea is to take over a parking space or two and then use it for some public recreation purpose. Parklets can be elaborate with plants, games, etc. or they can just basically be seating. No matter what form a parklet takes it’s always a plus to have people using that space than to have that highly valuable urban space warehousing empty vehicles.
Fire Hydrant Water Party
There’s nothing better than seeing a fire hydrant spewing water and kids running around in it. This concept is something that could become more programmatic in Omaha. It’s great for the kids to have something to do during the dog days of summer and it gives the city a vibrant feel.
Permanent Food Truck/Mobile Business Parking
Permanent food truck/mobile business parking is a great way to take back the city from the car. A permanent/seasonal food truck and mobile business district could be created and strategically located to bolster foot traffic and connect disconnected districts in the urban core.
