No More Circling Around the Block: Evolving Ethnography to Guide Innovation in Parking Systems

Parking. The biggest pain for many drivers and cities, and yet the least evolved in many ways... After many years with little innovation in parking technology, many cities are now exploring new systems meant to improve the use of limited parking real estate, increase parking convenience, and raise additional revenue.

PARC ethnographers James Glasnapp and Ellen Isaacs conducted observational studies in multiple locales to inform the design of one such novel parking system for a client, and in doing so developed a rapid ethnographic method that uncovered several key findings regarding parking practices -- many of which can be applied to different cities.

In this PARC Forum talk, James and Ellen will describe their method and show how they communicated findings through a "self-presenting" video podcast. They will also share how they changed the client team's thinking about the intended customer, highlighted some critical design issues, and revealed unanticipated opportunities for new technology solutions.