In the City of Melbourne car parking accounts for 460 hectares of land – the equivalent of one and a half times the area of Central Park in New York. Car parking is the third largest land use.

Our proposition is that these multi-level car park sites, when sold onto developers would be regarded as constituting a public benefit and therefore would allow these developers to exceed the allowable 1:18 plot ratio on another of their sites.

This approach would incentivise car park owners to sell their sites to realise a much higher return. These sites could then be handed back to the city, and a portion of the sale proceeds transferred to the city to refurbish the car parks in a number of different ways, including social infrastructure that improves daily life such as recreational facilities, open space and affordable housing.

We have identified a number of off-street, multi-level car parks in central Melbourne that could be repurposed in this way. Importantly, the intent is to repurpose the buildings rather than demolish them. It is a more sustainable approach that allows for the creation of vertical public space to improve how people use and feel in the city.

We have incorporated a series of simple architectural moves, such as stairs, ramps, balconies, and platforms, into the bones of exemplar car park structures within the Hoddle Grid.

This approach utilises a kit-of-parts and seeks to spark conversations about how we can reclaim space from cars so that Melbourne can be a greener, happier and more people focused city.