Answer: When it’s a car park. Ha, ha. To help identify the difference here are some clues. A park has grass, trees, flowers, sometimes a pond with ducks. A park has children playing, lovers sprawling, pic-nickers pic-nicking. A car park has cars. That’s it. How did this happen? What smoke and mirrors, what sleight of hand means that a place where cars are temporarily stored has become a car “park”? How differently would we think about cars that are not actually being used if we described this as something other than “parking” in a “car park.” Because the reality is that a place for storing cars is fugly (flipping ugly). If these places were called something different, it might be easier to think about re-imagining our towns and cities. So we need a new name for what we now misleadingly label a car “park.” Friends have suggested car-eyesore, and I’m tempted by car-store. Any other ideas? (Photo from The Value of Public Space: How high quality parks and public spaces create economic, social and environmental value).
There are several possible explanations for the above picture (no Photoshopping), seen on Brighton’s Lewes Road:
Most cars are parked most of the time. Which is not just a tragic waste of resources, but also means that these cars have to be parked somewhere, too. It's worse than just spoiling the view: cars take up spaces that can be used for other things. When you live without a car, you are saying, "I don't need these spaces to be used for my car, use them for something better."
