Problem
Very simply—when the area devoted to parking is too great, it destroys the land.
Solution
Do not allow more than 9 percent of the land in any given area to be used for parking. In order to prevent the “bunching” of parking in huge neglected areas, it is necessary for a town or a community to subdivide its land into “parking zones” no larger than 10 acres each and to apply the same rule in each zone.
Related Patterns
… the integrity of local transport areas and the tranquility of local communities and neighborhoods depend very much on the amount of parking they provide. The more parking they provide, the less possible it will be to maintain these patterns, because the parking spaces will attract cars, which in turn violate the local transport areas and neighborhoods — Local Transport Areas (11), Community of 7000 (12), Identifiable Neighborhood (14). This pattern proposes radical limits on the distribution of parking spaces, to protect communities.
Two later patterns say that parking must take one of two forms: tiny, surface parking lots, or shielded parking structures — Shielded Parking (97), Small Parking Lots (103). If you accept these patterns the 9 per cent rule will put an effective upper limit of 30 parking spaces per acre, on every part of the environment. Present-day on-street parking, with driveways, which provides space for about 35 cars per acre on the ground is ruled out. And those present-day high density business developments which depend on the car are also ruled out …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 120.