For sure! In that case I think it's worth asking what will this parking lot be in fifty or 100 years, especially if we transition away from cars. Is it suitably located to host some kind of park, marketplace, sports field, or other open space, or will adding a bunch of gantries of solar panels entrench it as car infrastructure by also making it part of the energy infrastructure? Many cities need to improve density and affordable housing, and parking lots are generally a good bit of land to repurpose as they're already negligible as habitat and generally located conveniently. (This is probably less important in exurban areas and around industry).

If we could pick suitable lots and exclude ones that make more sense as housing etc up front, this kind of installation could last a really long time and provide additional benefits. I'm actually interested to see how viable a similar arrangement would be over pedestrianized streets which get a lot of sun exposure, similar to the ones they put over canals or the shade cloths etc already used in many cities.

[–] phant@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, a lot to think about and forward plan. In Australia I think the social engineering required to detach people from cars would be the hardest part 😅

Some kind of "deciduous" solar panel in those pedstrian areas would be cool. Or something to that effect~

[–] JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah trees are great wherever they'll fit, and in my region you pretty much have to work not to have land return to forest. But there are a bunch of regions where shade cloths or latticework are the traditional answer to shading streets for climate/biosphere reasons. Plus people get all freaked out about tree roots messing with building foundations and underground infrastructure so not all pedestrianized streets may be suitable depending on what's below them.

(Apologies if your second paragraph wasn't about trees)

[–] phant@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Haha, I was actually trying to refer to some kind of solar panel that would shade pedestrians when it's hot and get outta tha way when it's not. I had forgotten that a tree is solar powered 😂