Elements of the public realm are public elements existing within communities. These elements can be things like plazas, courtyards, public streets or parking. Elements of the public realm should embody ideas of circulation and easy access.

Parking is a very important element to the public, especially on university campuses. For this blog, we will be taking a look at University of Missouri – Kansas City’s current parking situation.

UMKC is a commuter campus, meaning more students live off campus than on campus. Many of these students drive their own personal vehicles which are then needed to be parked on UMKC’s campus or surrounding areas while students are in class.
Figure 1.0 shows UMKC’s current parking map displayed on their website.

Figure 1.0
There is a mix between metered parking, student parking (those who have parking permits), and faculty/staff parking. There is also some off campus street parking, but not much in comparison to the amount of assigned parking for UMKC’s campus.
Figure 2.0

Figure 2.0 above gives a map of campus with all of the parking shown in blue. Some are parking lots, like the Katz Hall lot, and some are parking garages or the public street parking on campus.

When doing research about how far people will walk from their parking spot to their destination, I wanted to put theories to the test on campus.

I believed that there was enough parking for UMKC Campus students, but that the parking just is not in great areas. I know that when I pay a lot of money for a parking pass, I would really like to be within a five to seven minute walk of my classes. Shown in Figure 3.0 is a map showing the parking locations radius’ in regards to campus and its amenities. The distance is about .2 miles or about a five minute walk.

Figure 3.0
As you can see, campus parking is actually all within a 5-7 minute walk of campus and its amenities. I was surprised to find this information out. I also wanted to show some sketches of a campus parking garage on Cherry St. and the Katz Hall small lot that most of us park in currently when attending classes on campus in the UPD Program.

Overall, I think it is important to note that campus has a lot of parking and it is all relatively close to classes and other places students need to get to on campus. What a more prevalent issue may be is how to make campus feel more walkable so those 5-7 minutes feel like 2-3 and the walk is smoother to class than it currently is. This could be solved through topographic interventions and other related resources.