I love seeing trees in more places, but for parking lots in particular they do have some downsides compared to solar panels. They often require more space; they attract birds that that poo on vehicles; and there’s a higher risk of collateral damage during windstorms. Not to mention that solar panels directly produce electricity, of course.

We absolutely should see more trees in many cities, but they introduce their own challenges in parking lots, especially if they’re placed retroactively.

Trees can cause a lot of trouble if you don't give them enough space to grow. "Enough space" depends on the kind of the tree, but it's typically similar to a parking space. You can mandate trees, but then you'll get less parking.

That's not possible in most of the parking lots of South Korea. It's extremely dense and no space for big enough trees to shade cars.

A couple other comments warned of bird poop danger. But the smart entrepreneur will add a drive thru car wash next to the parking lot.

People always end up petitioning for them to be cutdown because tree litter inevitably falls on cars. The best solution for cars is dense multistory parking.

Tree shade means bird poop danger.