38
Week 13 The boundaries between urban public and private spaces are being used by the homeless, who have attached their tents to the fences of parking lots, the rolling shutters of stores, or the exterior walls of buildings. These homeless people stay in these areas without a relatively stable and safe space. Meanwhile, this occupation of public space also affects the appearance of the city and the passage of pedestrians and vehicles. How can this situation be improved in many ways? Parking lot edges are usually the main locations for homeless people, who are located above the dividing line and occupy part of the public walkway. How to use these boundary lines to provide shelter to the homeless while improving the overall visual effect of the street? Can parking lots be converted into spaces that can be used for public services? Converting existing parking lots into green parking lots while also considering how to coexist with homeless shelters. How can natural resources be efficiently converted? Adding greenery and permeable pavement at the boundary can provide water for public restrooms after collecting and filtering rainwater.
There is always plenty of sunshine in California, and we can consider installing solar panels in outdoor parking lots with huge open areas. Solar energy can serve a variety of purposes, not only for charging points in parking lots, but also for powering shelters along the street. When LADWP is responsible for municipal electricity consumption, it needs to consider the electricity consumption of streetlamps. Some streetlamps or signal lamps use solar energy. In the skid row area, the public lighting situation at night is not good, and the dark environment will provide more possibilities for crime. Effective and reasonable arrangement of solar streetlights can effectively improve the street environment, and the collected solar energy can also provide electricity for public toilets or public charging devices. If the LA government's funding on the homeless issue is used to provide solar energy facilities, it may be a measure to improve the city's public space and homeless living environment.
