Melbourne. A plan to transform unused car parks into rooftop gardens

The city of Melbourne has over 41,000 parking spaces in the central area, often and willingly inactive. Almost 500 hectares of land dedicated to resting cars, a space that far exceeds the surface area of Central Park in New York. On the basis of this assumption, Bates Smart architectural studio would convert some of the parking spaces into public recreational ones: playgrounds, gardens, rooftop gardens, outdoor gyms, basketball courts and open-air cinemas.

In order to do this, the studio is starting a discussion with the government to encourage the owners to get the operation off the ground. The idea is to convert some of the garages, carrying out some structural changes, creating vertical urban spaces. The project is currently in the development phase, waiting for the institutions to take a position to proceed.