It’s That Time of Year: #BlackFridayParking

An annual social media project underscores just how much parking goes unused, even on the busiest shopping days.

1 minute read

November 22, 2023, 10:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Aerial view of large parking lot in front of large grocery or big-box store with small fall-colored trees among parked cars and sunset sky in background.

bilanol / Adobe Stock

To celebrate the upcoming holiday weekend, Strong Towns continues its annual tradition of highlighting wasteful land use in U.S. cities, particularly at malls at shopping centers that, even on the ostensibly busiest shopping day of the year, are hardly full.

As Ben Abramson explains, the organization calls on parking reform advocates to post their own images of vacant parking with the hashtag #BlackFridayParking. “As Strong Towns has shown over the years, thousands of acres have been paved over to prepare for a mythical maximum number of shoppers on Black Friday. From a municipality’s perspective, this land is completely unproductive and may become a liability.”

For Strong Towns, the action is one way to promote policy changes that make more productive use of urban and suburban space. “Here’s hoping we can reconvene at this time next year to celebrate all the cities and towns that have done just that.”

Monday, November 20, 2023 in Strong Towns

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