---
title: "Surface Parking Lot"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/facilities/surface-parking-lot/"
id: "FAC-SPL-04"
description: "An at-grade, open-air parking area serving adjacent land uses, ranging from a small business lot to a large-format shared or municipal lot."
updated: "2026-10-16"
---

# Surface Parking Lot

`FAC-SPL-04`

Situational / Discouraged Facility

Surface Parking Lot

An at-grade, open-air parking area serving adjacent land uses, ranging from a small business lot to a large-format shared or municipal lot.

## Pattern viewer

Illustration in progress

No illustration of Surface Parking Lot has been made yet. Interactive views are planned for every pattern and Retrofit Strategy.

## Related Media

The items below come from outside the Commonway System, external videos, podcasts, and articles related to this page's topic, not part of the guidebook itself.

5 items

-   Aligned
    
    ### [Why Amsterdam is Removing 10,000 Parking Spaces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXLqrMljdfU)
    
    Not Just Bikes
    
    Documents Amsterdam's on-street parking reduction through permit attrition and street redesigns, including the tradeoff of a large replacement garage inducing more driving nearby.
    
    MED-009
    
-   Aligned
    
    ### [Why protected bike lanes are more valuable than parking spaces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E85HMNJix_o)
    
    Vox
    
    The video uses New York's 9th Avenue parking-protected bike lane to show that trading parking for protected cycling improves safety and even retail sales. It is evidence for the Commonway System's parking-lane reallocation retrofit strategy.
    
    MED-039
    
-   Aligned
    
    ### [Are Parking Lots Ruining Your City?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUhOFUQDLQk)
    
    Strong Towns
    
    The video traces Fayetteville, Arkansas eliminating parking minimums in 2015 and tallies the land-use and economic costs of mandated parking. It is a case study for the Commonway System's surface parking and density guidance.
    
    MED-044
    
-   Aligned
    
    ### [Why Parking Minimums Almost Destroyed My Hometown and How We Repealed Them](https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017-11-22-how-parking-minimums-almost-destroyed-my-hometown-and-how-we-repealed-them)
    
    Strong Towns
    
    A Sandpoint, Idaho council member tells how parking minimums nearly forced a bank to demolish local businesses for 200 mandated spaces, and how repealing them downtown brought quick business growth. It is a first-person case study for the Commonway System's parking reform and density guidance.
    
    MED-046
    
-   Aligned
    
    ### [Parking Reform with Tony Jordan (Ep 558)](https://streetsblog.libsyn.com/episode-558-parking-reform-with-tony-jordan)
    
    Talking Headways
    
    Tony Jordan of the Parking Reform Network makes the case against arbitrary parking requirements and for their abolition. It is an interview-length companion to the Commonway System's parking reform guidance.
    
    MED-064
    

[See all 5 in the Media Gallery](https://commonwaysystem.org/media/?for=FAC-SPL-04)

## Why this pattern exists

Surface lots are the most common and land-intensive parking facility, and their design choices (stall layout, stormwater handling, pedestrian access, landscaping) carry outsized impact on both the immediate streetscape and the site’s runoff and heat-island footprint. This pattern exists to document the tradeoffs specific to at-grade, uncovered parking, distinct from the structural and circulation problems a parking garage presents.

## Key considerations

-   Pedestrian paths through and across the lot should be clearly delineated rather than left to informal desire lines between parked cars[2]
-   Stormwater management (permeable paving, bioswales, tree canopy) should be integrated into the lot design, not treated as an afterthought[1]
-   Lot placement relative to the building and street matters: a lot between the building and the street undermines the streetscape it fronts

## Related patterns

[Parking Garage/Structure](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/facilities/parking-garage-structure.md) (FAC-PGS-05) (structural alternative for higher-density sites); [Pervious Pavement](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/pervious-pavement.md) (ELM-PVP-22), [Bioswale](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/bioswale.md) (ELM-BIO-19) (related Element patterns for stormwater treatment); [Park-and-Ride](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/facilities/park-and-ride.md) (FAC-PNR-06) (a specific use case of surface parking)

## References

1.  Legal / regulatory [EPA, _Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies_, "Trees and Vegetation" and "Cool Pavements" chapters (2008; Cool Pavements chapter updated 2012). Direct source for the runoff and heat-island footprint claim above.](https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/guide-reducing-heat-islands)
2.  Precedent-based [ULI/National Parking Association, _The Dimensions of Parking_. Circulation, stall layout, and access design standards.](https://knowledge.uli.org/en/books/2009/the-dimensions-of-parking)

_"Legal / regulatory" here refers to the EPA guidance that municipal NPDES stormwater permits and heat-island mitigation programs are legally built around, not a single mandatory design spec like MUTCD or PROWAG._