All the exciting, emerging areas in cities across the UK are littered with temporary car parks. Why? Because this is the only use the site owners can find for empty parcels of land which they prefer to leave undeveloped, and ugly, while they wait for land values in the area to rise. The councils hate them because, not only are they a blight on the urban landscape, they are usually un-rateable cash businesses, which encourage car-use. Because of the fringe location of the car-parks, even this does not raise congestion charge revenue. They will also have a policy to reduce motor-based commuting and none of these facilities help. The city fringe is where a lot of people want to stay. It is close to the commercial centres, and is full of interesting new bars, clubs, restaurants and galleries. That’s why any hotel in one of these areas is almost permanently full. The way the finances work out, an m-hotel can pay the site owners a lot more than they are going to get from car-park use, and because it’s not a cash arrangement, the councils then earn proper income from them. The area is much improved, and the residents of the m-hotels spend very little time commuting, which makes their lives better. Instead, they walk home and spend their evenings (and money) in the less affluent city fringes. It is one of those rare win-win situations.