Parking Turnstiles and Auto Stacks

In my Asian and European travels, I have realized that they have the same automobile struggles as the US, just on a magnified scale. Providing parking for inhabitants when they are not on the move is one of the main challenges of urban and mixed use development, and we can learn a lot from these countries that have continued to implement creative solutions for urban development.

The simplistic technology of a turnstile is an interesting, and presumably affordable option to pack parking into tight spaces, allowing tight turning radii to enter and exit garages and busy streets. It seems like you could implement them into tight restoration projects to squeeze cars in corners they may not otherwise fit. You could also locate them on corners of townhome buildings and create a parking situation that would add some development area instead of the need for a cul-de-sac or through street. We're considering both options in some of our upcoming projects as we figure out how to become more efficient with our sites.

Another option that seems to be gaining popularity is the vertical parking stack. I have started to see these in NYC, and in addition we have had discussions with Boomerang, AutoParkIt and others who are building these in other places in the US and Canada. However, they are prevalent all over Tokyo, and I am sure driven by the market characteristics, which are vastly different than the US.
Both of these systems seem to be more efficient, and possibly more affordable than traditional parking structures. These options would appear to offer more flexibility as well since cars and trucks are always changing sizes. What reason is there to build every space as 10x20 when some cars fit in an 8x10 space? Although most of our projects don’t necessitate them yet, it seems we could take advantage of these systems and push the density to an even greater level if we tried them. However, the ultimate question is whether or not the consumer will accept them in the US. If we can prove the systems are reliable and start to get some of our projects to take advantage of them, then it seems that it could be a way to lead our market.