Changes to the Built Environment

• Elimination of on-street parking
• Conversion of on-street parking to drop-off/pick-up
• Addition of pedestrian and non-motorized corridors
• Allows for additional tenant space (street vendors, bike/scooter docking, etc.)
• Opportunity for cities to capture income through renting street space for purposes other than parking

Current projects are in progress across the world. This transformation bases on the assumptions that personal vehicle ownership will be greatly decreased and Level 5 autonomy has become integrated. Current projects include road diets to promote quality of life and alternative transportation options. As technology moves forward and autonomous vehicles enter the cityscape, more intense road diets and reclamation of street space may be seen.

• What does a suburban home look like with no personal vehicle ownership?
• Car storage becomes unnecessary at home
• Possibility to reclaim space to create more living area

Eliminating the need to store a vehicle at home allows for the potential to reclaim the space a garage occupies. In neighborhoods immediately adjacent to downtown areas where the price per square foot is a premium this gives the potential to add significant value to a home.

If this becomes a reality, cities will have to rethink parking requirements that go along with development. Stories can be found across the country of municipalities reducing parking requirements and realizing the benefits that come along with it. In some cases it is able to aid in the reduction of housing costs, but in this future model it may be able to be used to maximize a home's value or add additional dwelling units to a city.

A model such as this opens up the door to an iBuying type scenario. If a company that has the ability to purchase homes in specific locations with these features and has a coordinated network of contractors to remodel the spaces, they may be able to market the homes with no vehicle storage to targeted market groups.

• What can be done with massive parking structures?
• The shift to needing less parking immediately available in dense areas renders parking garages obsolete
• Prime locations within cities

As the need for parking is reduced, parking garages will become open floor areas looking for a new use. Some parking garages are being built with the future in mind, adding in additional up front costs to allow for flexibility in the future. Not all parking garages allow for this level of flexibility though. It is important to find a way that more dated garages can be morphed to fit the autonomous future.

As Logistics changes to meet the increasing demands of one-day delivery and efficiency, underutilized parking garages offer a solution to creating more centrally located distribution centers. Current projects have integrated distribution centers into parking garages in major cities.

This model may become more prevalent as time moves forward. Although parking garages may not serve as the ideal environment for a state-of-the-art warehouse facility, it is certainly possible to store goods in the unused parking areas. Doing so with some simple renovations to protect the goods may be easily possible, requiring minimal reinvestment into the structure. Scheduling large deliveries to the garages in off peak hours and distributing the goods via small autonomous delivery vehicles that can also be housed within the garage can allow this to become a reality in the future. To look a step beyond, structures may with roof access may be able to integrate drone delivery, telecommunications installations, or other possibilities.