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Review
. 2024 Dec 11;12(1):2.
doi: 10.1007/s40572-024-00465-4.

Parking and Public Health

Michael D Garber  1 , Tarik Benmarhnia  2   3 , Jacob Mason  4 , Emily Morales-Zamora  5 , David Rojas-Rueda  6   7
Affiliations
Review

Parking and Public Health

Michael D Garber et al. Curr Environ Health Rep. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: Parking is a ubiquitous feature of the built environment, but its implications for public health are under-examined. This narrative review synthesizes literature to describe pathways through which parking may affect population health.

Recent findings: We begin by contextualizing the issue, outlining key terminology, the sheer scale of land dedicated to parking, and the historical factors that led to this dominant land use. Next, we delineate four pathways linking parking with public health: 1) Promoting driving and car dependency, affecting air pollution, greenhouse-gas emissions, physical activity, traffic-related injuries and fatalities, and accessibility; 2) Creating impervious surfaces, with consequences for urban heat, flooding, water pollution, and green space; 3) Affecting housing affordability and associated health outcomes of this social determinant; and 4) Design, construction, and maintenance, the health impacts of which include on-street parking's positive and negative impacts on safety for all roadway users, air-quality effects of parking's construction and maintenance, and the potential for green parking lots to mitigate some health consequences of impervious surfaces. While evidence supports each pathway, additional empirical research is needed to evaluate impacts of parking on public-health outcomes. As a dominant feature of the built environment with many health implications, parking warrants attention by public-health research and practice.

Keywords: Environmental epidemiology; Equity; Housing; Public Health; Transportation; Urban Planning.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Human and Animal Rights: This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Four pathways through which parking may affect public health
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. de Sa TH, Mwaura A, Vert C, et al. Urban design is key to healthy environments for all. Lancet Glob Health. 2022;10(6):e786–7. 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00202-9. - PMC - PubMed
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    1. Sustainable Development Goals | Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. United Nations Sustainable Development. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/ Accessed 17 Feb 2023.
    1. Chester M, Horvath A, Madanat S. Parking Infrastructure and the Environment. Access. 39(Fall 2011). https://www.accessmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/01/access.... Accessed 28 July 2023.

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