Get Your Camera Ready for Empty #BlackFridayParking Lots
2:09 PM EST on November 25, 2015
If you’re out shopping on Black Friday, keep your cell phone camera close at hand. Strong Towns is continuing its annual tradition of #BlackFridayParking — capturing photos of half-empty parking lots on America’s high holy day for retail.
The exercise illustrates how ridiculous and wasteful our parking policies are. Many communities require retailers to construct and maintain parking lots large enough to house every shopper on the busiest shopping day of the year. And then even on a day like Black Friday (technically the second-busiest day of the year), many spaces remain unfilled.
Imagine if this space could be repurposed for something more productive.
Angie is a Cleveland-based writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She has been writing about cities for Streetsblog for six years.
Read More:
More from Streetsblog USA
Opinion: I (Almost) Killed a Pedestrian With My Car
Every driver has a story or two about a near-miss traffic crash, even when they were doing everything right. Can we get those numbers down with safer systems?
November 6, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: The Value of Cities
Cities are valuable precisely because there are so many people in them.
November 5, 2026
What It Will Take To Turn the ‘Blue Wave’ Into a Watershed Moment for Transportation Reform
Democrats won big at the ballot box in the midterms. Will they fight for multimodal travelers when they're in office?
November 5, 2026
Midterm Results: Big Wins for Transit, Walking, and Biking
Car dependency lost in races up and down the ballot on Tuesday.
November 5, 2026
