You may have read the news that LYNC recently received approval from Wilmot Township Council for our parking plan at the Mill Block Community. You can read the full details here: https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/housing-proposal-would-add-parking-spaces-to-new-hamburg-core/article_d262e1fb-f5cf-5057-b8ce-a3eb372d0f60.html This is a key step in gaining site plan approval and ultimately the start of construction.
If there is anything that can get people talking, its parking.
Several years ago, I was in charge of moving a team of over 80 people on a university campus into a new building. The move was complex and I was keen to involve people, hear their feedback and keep them informed. But do you know what the most prevalent question and deepest angst-inducing concern of the staff was?
“But where am I going to park?”
While we are thrilled that we are able to provide needed parking for both our residents and the community in our Mill Block development, the bigger question that nags our earth-loving hearts at LYNC is, “how can we shift the parking paradigm”? A paradigm is defined as “a shared set of understandings, conceptions, interpretations, and beliefs. They are held in common by a significantly large community. It is a core way of thinking about some aspect of our world, or experience”
The parking paradigm in rural Ontario has remained unchanged for many years. Our shared understanding is this; if I need to go somewhere, I take my car. If I take my car, I need to park. If I need to park, it should be as close as possible to where I am going. Believe me, I am totally stuck in this paradigm. I take my car everywhere. I’ve even stooped so low as to move my car from one parking spot to another when I’m shopping at a sprawling plaza (come on, admit it, you’ve done it too).
I need a paradigm shift.
Mike Clayton in his blog on https://www.pocketbook.co.uk/ states that paradigm shifts happen in 4 stages.
Stage 1: Situation Normal. The science or cultural process is working well, everyone understands it and adopts it. People and commerce are thriving.
Stage 2: Extraordinary Progress. Eureka! A startling new scientific discovery, a political shift or new technology emerges that does not fit the existing paradigm
Stage 3: People Take It Up. People see the change in thinking as an improvement or necessary change and adopt it.
Stage 4: The New Normal The new paradigm prevails in our thinking. It becomes the common understanding of how things are. The old paradigm is only looked at from a historical perspective (remember when telephones were connected to the wall?)
So how do we create a shift in the parking paradigm? We know the current paradigm. We also know that science has made the startling discovery that cars create pollution and pollution damages our environment and our health. We have covered state 1 and 2 of our shift. So how do we as individuals and a society move to stage 3 and 4?
At LYNC we hope to take small steps in adopting a new environmentally focussed paradigm. Yes, we have a parking lot, but we are committed to change. By incorporating safe storage for bikes and mobility devices, advocating for better public transportation, and locating our developments in core areas which are highly walkable to services, we are taking up a change in thinking. Sometimes paradigm shifts take a long time, they require commitment. Many small steps and incremental changes bring a gradual shift which eventually leads to a new way of thinking, at least until the next paradigm shift comes along.
As for me, I think its past time I got myself a bike.
Lisa Doherty
Vice Chair, LYNC