Asphalt Deserts: Rethinking the Design of Surface Parking Lots in Downtown Winnipeg

Surface Parking lots as deserted asphalt lands spread gradually but consistently over the urban fabric of our cities. These asphalt desserts, as utilitarian spaces with solitary land use sweep through nonspaces in the urban context, surfacing the social and cultural fabric of the city as one of placelessness. The issue of surface parking becomes more dominant as they begin to spread over the dense urban environments such as our downtown cores. The city of Winnipeg is an example of this issue with surface parking lots occupying around 40 % of the land in the downtown.This thesis seeks to redefine these spaces as places of social and cultural interactions, where public activities occur and parking space becomes more than just a resting land.