3-D Residential Land Use and Downtown Parking: An Analysis of Demand Index

William J. Gribb
University of Wyoming

The need for downtown revitalization is a growing concern for community stakeholders who are attempting to make their communities more sustainable and minimize urban sprawl. One strategy to make the downtown more active is to increase the attractiveness of the downtown for street-level customers and residential development. Success in this strategy attracts more people to the downtown; however, the challenge is to provide adequate parking. This study examines parking and its spatial dimensions in downtown Laramie, Wyoming. A parking inventory of both on- and off-street parking revealed the uneven spatial distribution of parking in the downtown area. Street interviews provided information on length of parking, purposes for coming downtown, and the location of destinations once downtown. A three-dimensional land use inventory supplied detailed locations of all activities in each building and floor for the 28 blocks of downtown Laramie. A bubble analysis of each parking space identified the spatial dynamics of the downtown parking demand and its distributional inadequacy for downtown residents.