This is perhaps the wrong post to be writing right now with gas prices where they are, but lately I've been thinking about parking garage designs. We have talked a lot about parking minimums and other related topics on this blog, but let's put all of these aside for today and assume that parking garages are a thing that will continue to exist in our cities.

Generally speaking, parking garages are fairly utilitarian spaces. They store cars and they usually aren't that nice. And in the case of public garages, they often smell like urine. But there are some extraordinary examples out there. Miami immediately comes to mind as a city with some pretty cool garages. I mean, when you have one designed by Herzog & de Meuron (1111 Lincoln Road) that is usually a pretty good indicator.

When I was there in January, we went walking one night through the Design District and we ended up on the roof of "Museum Garage" to take some photos and take in the views. Once we got there, we found people doing everything from eating dinner to filming TikTok videos. Great spaces attract people. It also helps when all of your parking is above-grade, which is the case in Miami.

Here is another example from Sydney (also pictured above). In this case, it's a residential parking garage and Craig & Karl were hired to create a colorful geometric mural. Garages are a perfect place to be a bit more playful and have some fun. I think we should do more of this.

Photo via Craig & Karl

The Miami Herald has a recent article up asking: Has Miami Beach lost its mojo? While the beach will always be an immense draw, there’s concern that entertainment dollars could now be starting to favor mainland neighborhoods like Wynwood, Brickell, and the Design District. 

Here are some of the reasons why it is believed that may be happening:

- Structural changes to the retail landscape

- High rents have pushed out all of the interesting and distinctive tenants

- City is too lenient when it comes to the nighttime economy; South Beach has become a circus

- Investors and developers are worried about the Beach’s exposure to sea level rise

- Strips like Ocean Drive and Lincoln Road have simply completed their urban cycle and are no longer attractive and novel

- Overdevelopment of luxury housing (curiously, there’s a preservationist quoted in the article who appears to believe that restricting development to only mid-rise will result in less luxury housing)

Many of these points are certainly not unique to Miami Beach. We know the retail landscape is changing. But as I was reading through the article, I was once again reminded that cities are always changing – even when we try and stop them from doing that.

There are over 900 historic buildings in the Miami Art Deco District. Most are low-rise and mid-rise. This includes the iconic Ocean Drive. And yet the above article is all about the changes that the Beach has seen and experienced over the years.

Oftentimes we only associate change with new buildings. But architectural preservation does not guarantee any sort of urban stasis. Cities are far more complex than that.

Image: Photo by Ryan Spencer on Unsplash