On the hobby of spot-checking availability in nearby parking garages, and American driving and parking data.

We discuss:

00:00 Counting unused parking spots in downtown Columbus, Ohio. 00:27 Parking garage supply and demand. 01:47 Reevaluating urban land use. 02:44 U.S. parking data. 03:57 Parking case study: Des Moines, Iowa. 06:09 Larger implications of car-centric infrastructure. 11:11 Personal finance and transportation costs. 14:46 Coming Thursday: Kev Polk (Edenicity).

Further context:

Number of parking spots, compared to cars on the road in the U.S. (via Fast Company).

The parking density of American cities (via Bloomberg CityLab).

Cities' 'parking scores' (via Parking Reform Network).

Average car ownership count by household (via Forbes).

Average American household size (via Statistica).

Ryan Short — cofounder of CivicBrand — joins good traffic to emphasize why cities and towns of all sizes should care more about branding. We talk the need for civic pride and intentional urban design, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and using community perspective to refine strong, holistic, evergreen messaging.

From Dallas, to suburban North Carolina, to mountain town Colorado, Ryan's perspective is forged from work in communities of all stripes. He's truly of wealth of successful precedents for proper placemaking.

We discuss:

00:00 On CivicBrand, and branding cities.

04:29 On community engagement.

05:30 Car-centric design has ruined civic identity.

08:12 How to approach community engagement and placemaking.

16:37 Collecting data at community meetings.

25:23 Qualitative data in branding.

26:03 Personal taste versus city identity.

27:18 Toyota's branding as a model for cities.

30:44 Civic pride and economic growth.

34:13 Case study: High Point, North Carolina.

40:18 Learning from small towns.

45:16 Wrapping up.

Further context:

CivicBrand.

Connect with Ryan:

On LinkedIn.

Connect with me, Brad:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On Instagram.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On TikTok⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On LinkedIn⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Recently, my partner Aly reflected on our walks in Columbus (OH) feeling safer than elsewhere in the states. We discussed the why behind this perceived feeling, and articulated the claim into five attributable rationales. We decided to rehash those, here.

As planners, designers, and urbanists get deeper into the technical, it's important to keep the way that a place or piece of infrastructure simply feels top of mind.