More Livable Communities – Parks and Green Space, Not Parking Lots

In President Clinton’s 2000 State of the Union Address, he stated “You ask anybody that lives in an unlivable community, and they’ll tell you. They want their kids to grow up next to parks, not parking lots …”

Most adults in the United States drive cars, and that means having places to park those cars. No one realistically expects that to change. However, that doesn’t mean that every open lot should be paved for parking. For beautiful and livable communities, we need green space.

The parking industry has technologies that can help cities dramatically increase green space. Automated parking technologies may cost more in the short-term than just paving over an open piece of land, but the benefits to projects and communities far outweigh the cost.

A Robotic Parking Systems’ garage offers a solution for safe, convenient parking that creates space that could be used for pedestrians, bicycles, green space and parks. An automated parking garage can fit the same number of cars in half the space of a conventional parking garage, or use a fraction of the space required for the same number of cars in a parking lot. The better space utilization for parking allows architects, developers and urban planners more freedom to design and create greener and more livable communities.

Just image a community where parks and green space replaced 50% to 75% of every parking garage or parking lot. This is achievable by using automated parking technology. How could your city use this space?

Folding Cars?

One of the many benefits of Robotic Parking Systems is that you can park twice as many cars in the same amount of space as conventional ramp-style garages.

Others are looking at reducing the space needed for parking with solutions such as folding cars. Folding cars? You read it correctly; folding cars.

(Marketwire) The world’s very first car that folds into itself to save parking space is set to be launched. The Hiriko folding electric car is a prototype that has been developed by the partnership of the Basque businesses, the Spanish government, and the MIT Media Lab, a US research firm. The tiny bubble car is scheduled to go into production in Spain next year.

The new vehicle, which has been dubbed as a ‘capsule-like city car’ is to be unveiled in Brussels by Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission and it is reported that it is powered by four in-wheel motors. Each wheel is said to be independently driven and steers by ‘robot’ in-wheel electric motors to increase maneuverability. The conventional steering wheel has been replaced by a ‘joystick’ which tugs on the driver’s fingers when ordered by a navigation system.

The manufacturers claim that the car only uses two-thirds of the footprint of a Smart car and the aim of the project is to free up the many miles of car parking space that inhabits cities. Around 20 vehicles will be deployed on a trial basis from autumn this year in several European and American cities including Boston, in Massachusetts, Malmo in Sweden, and Bilbao in Spain.

The driver as well as the passenger enters and leaves the Hiriko through one single door at the front of the car.

I think the broad use of automated parking systems to reduce land area needed for parking is a much more current and practical solution for the US. We can still save space on parking and keep our sedans and SUVs to move around the kids, groceries and those home improvement materials.

Robotic Parking Systems for the Rest of Us

The Miami Herald recently reported that the $560 million Porsche Design Tower condo planned for Sunny Isle Beach, Florida will have a very unique feature – residents will be able to see their cars from their living rooms.

The 57-story luxury tower will contain 132 units with prices ranging up to $9 million dollars. Smaller units will be allocated two parking spaces and larger ones will have four, with 284 robotic parking spaces in total.

The project is reported to be the world’s first condominium complex with elevators that will take residents directly to their units while they are sitting in their cars.

“You don’t have to leave your car until you are in front of your apartment,” said Juergen Gessler, CEO of Porsche Design Group.

While we don’t deliver your car to the front door of your condo, Robotic Parking Systems offers urban parking facilities many of the same benefits.

Users drive up to the automated parking garage and into a convenient parking terminal. Once they get out and lock their car, Robotic Parking Systems does the rest. The car is picked up by the computerized machinery and lifts that will safely place it inside the building on a shelving system.

The automated parking systems provides:
- Greater security for people and their vehicles. Drastically reduces risk of personal injury. Access to the parking facility is limited to street level terminals. Virtually eliminates dings, dents, theft and vandalism to vehicles.
- Robotic Parking also reduces CO2 emissions and other pollutants and greenhouse gases.
- Users of the facility get the convenience of premium valet parking without the worries of someone else driving the car. Since no one has access to the inside of the facility, the car and its contents are 100% secure from theft and vandalism.

So for the rest of us … check out Robotic Parking Systems.

Robotic Parking Systems provide more space for people — less for parking.

In the New York Times article Paved, but Still Alive, Michael Kimmelman stated:

There are said to be at least 105 million and maybe as many as 2 billion parking spaces in the United States.

A third of them are in parking lots, those asphalt deserts that we claim to hate but that proliferate for our convenience.

In “Rethinking a Lot,” a new study of parking, due out in March, Eran Ben-Joseph, a professor of urban planning at M.I.T., points out that “in some U.S. cities, parking lots cover more than a third of the land area, becoming the single most salient landscape feature of our built environment.”

Land is one of the most valuable resources of any city. And, green spaces and common areas in which people can interact are essential to creating cities that are beautiful, livable, safe and desirable to businesses, tourists and residents.

While the number of cars and resulting parking spaces keep growing, many architects and developers are looking at automated, robotic parking garages as a strategy for better space utilization for parking needs.

Automated parking facilities use 50% less space than a conventional ramp-style parking garage and only a fraction of the space taken up by large, sprawling parking lots. The Robotic Parking Systems’ technology greatly increases the speed and efficiency of parking so that even the largest garage or parking lot can be made much smaller.

Robotic Parking Systems:

• gives architects and developers more freedom to design and create greener and more livable communities without the need for sprawling parking lots.
• provides safe, convenient parking that gets cars off the road and creates space that could be used for pedestrians and bicycles.
• offers the convenience of valet parking without the valet.
• generates less pollution and greenhouse gases.
• provides complete flexibility in the design of the facade which can increase aesthetics and allow the garage to blend with any neighborhood or project.

Robotic Parking Systems offer solutions for urban environments that create more green space, less parking space and make better use of the city’s land resources.

Happy New Year from Robotic Parking Systems

We wish you a wonderful and prosperous New Year!

Robotic Parking Systems Video – How Automated Parking Works at the Ibn Battuta Gate in Dubai

Robotic Parking Systems use space more intelligently and efficiently than a regular parking garage. The automated parking garage reduces the space needed for parking by up to 50%. 

Take a look at the video to see how the world’s largest (765 spaces) operating robotic parking system works at the Ibn Battuta Gate in Dubai.

Robotic Parking Systems at Ibn Battuta Gate in Dubai

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Some of the many benefits to the Robotic Parking System are:
- more intelligent use of space for parking
- more green space
- less pollution
- lower overall operating costs
- higher security for individuals
- better care and safety of vehicles
- the convenience of valet parking without the valet
- complete flexibility in the design of the facade – can blend with any neighborhood or project

Learn more at www.roboticparking.com.

Architects Surveyed Voted Green Materials and Technology as the Most Exciting Technology Trend

In a Robotic Parking Systems survey of architects across the United States, we asked  the question, “What are the most exciting technology trends coming to architecture and building?” (Multiple answers were given to the question.)

60 % of the architects surveyed stated “green materials and technology” as the most exciting trend.

45 % of those survey voted for “Building Information Management (BIM).”

20 % stated “3D drafting and design software.”

Robotic Parking Systems technology is eco-friendly and cost effective. Electro-mechanical automatic parking reduces CO2 emissions and other pollutants and greenhouse gases. No cars are run inside the garage so there are no car emissions to ventilate. Also, since cars are not circling the block looking for a parking space, there is less pollution and less traffic congestion. Drivers get off the street faster!

Happy Holidays from Robotic Parking Systems

We would like to extend our best wishes to you and your families for a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Robotic Parking Systems Featured in Parking Brazil Magazine

Robotic Parking Systems is featured in the latest issue of Parking Brazil magazine.

The article is in Portuguese so I’ve provided an excerpt of the article in English below. Click to see the full article in Portuguese.

The garage of the future is fully automated

It already exists. The garage of the future has been present for more than 50 years in countries where the demand for parking is old. Italy, Germany and Japan were the pioneers in developing systems where cars are not driven into the spaces, but driven by machines controlled by computers to boxes much more compact than the conventional places.

The frustration of not finding parking spaces in certain areas or times, in major cities and even in smaller centers, has become an ever-present reality in the lives of Brazilians.

After all, the vehicle fleet has grown much greater than the number of jobs. In Europe and Asia, this is not new. The Old Continent still has as an aggravating factor – the fact that many shopping centers maintain the structure of narrow streets and medieval labyrinth, and are settled on ancient historical structures, that impede the construction of underground garages. These difficulties have led Europeans – especially Germans and Italians – and Japanese to be the pioneers in developing automated garages. Hundreds of them were built in these countries from the mid-1950 until late 1980. “Today there are thousands of automated garages in Europe and there is almost one on every corner in Japan,” says the editor of Parking Today American, John Van Horn. …

Responsible for the first fully automated parking garage in the United States, Robotic Parking Systems is also the first to the Middle East. “We have the largest automated parking garage in the world, operating in Dubai, with 765 spaces,” boasts the company’s administrative director, Mary Lou DeWynGaert, referring to the impressive parking project at Ibn Battuta Gate. Soon, the company beat its own record. It designed and fabricated the machinery for another incredible automated garage in Dubai, with no less than 1200 spaces, still under construction!

The garage future in Brazil

Robotic Parking Systems has no projects in Brazil, but according to Mary Lou, the company is excited about the growth and the opportunities in the country. “We are working with some developers on several Brazilian proposals,” she adds. …

Advantages

• No ramps and requiring a lower height between floors, automated garages ensure a significant reduction in the need of building area.  To get an idea, they need only 50% of the space that a conventional ramp garage used for the same number of spaces. Less space, more profits!

• Accepting any kind of façade they are adaptable to any design or architectural style of the place where they are installed.

• No cars or people walking around inside requires less lighting and ventilation.

• Emissions of CO2 and other pollutants are reduced making them sustainable garages. The very economy of space, especially in urban areas contribute to this. The land saved can be used in many cases, to create green areas or open areas.

• Once the user access is limited to the terminal for arrivals and removal of the car, risk of vandalism and injury to persons and vehicles are virtually eliminated. Likewise, it eliminates the risk of theft of items left inside the cars. All this dramatically reduces the cost of insurance.

• Personnel costs fall significantly, since the number of staff needed for this type of operation is minimal. When fully automated, it does not require employees to be operated.

• Users gain in comfort with a service equivalent to that of a valet. Just drop the car at the front desk and wait for it in the output.

Click here for more information on Robotic Parking Systems and our patented design.

(Translation courtesy of Google Translate)

Parking Matters

In a recent issue of Parking Today magazine, Casey Jones, Chairman of the Board of the International Parking Institute, stated “Parking matters to everyone, no matter where you are or what you do for a living. It’s an integral, crucial piece of the transportation puzzle that affects businesses in every sector, location and specialty, and plays a huge part in the lives of people around the world.”

If you’ve ever spent time driving around looking for a parking space, and who hasn’t, I’m sure you’d agree that parking does matter.

Parking is also a crucial piece in any development project, but high density parking requirements can also compromise design, reduce revenue generating space or even make a project unviable.

Robotic Parking Systems offer solutions.

Not only can Robotic Parking Systems park the same number of cars in half the space as compared to conventional garages, but these parking facilities offer more security, less emissions and greater convenience for users. The Robotic Parking Systems high-speed efficiency and fast retrieval times guarantee a satisfying user experience.