Developing and operating unit-type green parklets for parking lots in urban area—Part 1: Development and experimental study of unit-type green parklets

Abstract

Aiming to improve thermal environment for outdoor public spaces, the author had been developing a unit-type green parklet for parking lots that both introduce greenery into cities and produce walkable urban spaces. In this study, the author examined and created a full-size unit-type green parklet, installed it in a parking lot adjacent to sidewalk space next to a bus stop in the traditional urban area, Kyomachi district, of Kumamoto City, and investigated the improvement to summer thermal environment from a field measurement and its usage by people from user survey in summer (from August 30 to September 5, 2022). The results showed that although the parklet shaded with the parasol and greening units, air temperature dropped by only a maximum of 1°C in daytime. Given the characteristics of parking lot as a location, it was confirmed that not only the wind and airflow conditions was blocked and worsened, but reflected solar radiation from the surroundings and generated heat from parked cars degraded air temperature and MRT from the field measurement. Furthermore, it was confirmed to be ensured the visibility of the surroundings when sitting on the parklet bench for the users waiting for a bus from user survey.