Parking in Kavita. Parking at the sea. Short stories of adventures from underground garages… A new magazine focuses on how cities manage parking and how it shapes the lives of residents.
Two versions are out so far: Namma Parking, set in Bengaluru and releasing in December 2021; and Amche Parking, based in Goa and released in December 2022. (“Namma” and “Amche” are Kannada and Konkani, respectively, for “our”.)
“The presence of parking lots and spaces naturally changes the way we experience the city,” says founder and editor Radha RH, 23, a public space designer currently based in Goa. “It’s a fact that more parking spaces means more vehicles, and more vehicles means we need more parking spaces. Ultimately, there is never enough parking. Which also means we can see wasteland and parked vehicles all around us. .”
Radha first started researching this topic for her final year thesis at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru. She has spent a lot of time in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa, Pune and Ladakh, documenting how people of different professions and genders use these spaces, and how they become multi-use spaces in cities starved of open space.
Overall, parking spaces in malls in India are better, she says. They are designed for clean, safe, good and easy navigation.
His annual periodical provides insights into the latest research on parking, new developments in the aesthetics of these spaces, the perspectives of architects and researchers living in the city, and reviews of city facilities (based on factors such as cleanliness, accessibility, lighting and security). , visual appeal).
From Goa, a story written by freelance journalist Chrisel D’Silva Dias, resident of a 350-year-old house on the banks of the Mandovi River, explores parking disputes between residents and visitors at the region’s many casinos. In a photo series from the same state, photographer Himon Rai Choudhary documents how fishermen in the village of Benaulim dock their boats in an unchanging tradition spanning centuries.
An interesting element in magazines is the story. In Namma Parking, it takes the form of a short story about a girl who is lured to a parking lot by Bollywood music played by attendants. She comes to listen to songs everyday. While sitting in a tree, listening one such day, he learns that a smuggling racket is flourishing in that place, and from there his adventure begins.
In Amche Parking, author Kanishk Devgan examines how parking lots appear in modern verse, including August Kleinzahler’s poem, Dogwood Blossoms Fall in a Parking Lot Off Route 46, and Mark Terrill’s poem, Poem for Parking Lot.
The first edition of Parking Magazine was available online for free. The second edition has 500 copies printed and 100 have been sold so far through online orders at our parking.net. Radha has also got a sponsor for this edition. And the magazine has an advertisement for architect and photographer Robert Stephens’ book Bombay Imagined.
Through the magazine, Radha says, she wants to make people aware of the ways India’s cities are changing, before they become barren landscapes like many American cities, where 40% of public spaces are parking.
Where will the next issue be based? “Singapore, maybe,” she says. “Developing the community outside India will be a good challenge. And Singapore’s take on the automotive industry, which includes high taxes on buying cars, would be a good study.”
Get a colorful deal with 70% off on HT Premium Annual Plans
Enjoy unlimited digital access with HT Premium
