From Parking to Parcels: The Potential for Microhubs in New York City’s Parking Garages

Abstract

This thesis employs a site planning and policy perspective to explore how parking garages can serve as last-mile microhubs for e-commerce package deliveries in New York City. During the COVID-19 pandemic, deliveries accelerated, prompting a proliferation of “last-mile facilities,” the destination where parcels go just prior to final delivery. This surge of activity has prompted residents to raise complaints about trucks and vans driving through their neighborhoods and blocking streets or sidewalks when unloading their goods. In response, New York City government has been forced to think more proactively about the freight supply chain and its impact on the urban environment. New York and other cities have begun experimenting with the use of microhubs. Microhubs are small spaces in which packages are unloaded from vans and trucks onto smaller, more sustainable modes such as cargo bikes and handcarts. A commonly identified but understudied location for microhubs is the parking garage. London stands out as a city with this form of hub. This thesis employs three primary research methods—site observations, interviews, and case studies—to argue that parking garages could provide a solution to better utilize dense urban space in dense cities and improve quality of life for residents by reducing the negative impacts of existing last-mile warehouses and delivery vehicles, all while requiring minimal funding. This is shown through an analysis of existing microhub sites in London and how they relate to their urban surroundings. These findings are then applied to two distinct contexts and garage designs in New York City. Finally, the thesis offers site planning criteria that connect land use policy to the design of the facilities and the surrounding public realm through the concept of “planning at the interface.”