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Parking? Lots!

Parking rules buried in city land-use codes have surprisingly pernicious effects. Requirements that builders provide ample quotas of off-street parking spaces worsen traffic, multiply collisions, push up housing prices, dampen business profitability, amplify sprawl, and pollute both air and water. Parking rules are a surprisingly potent hidden force shaping—or misshaping—our communities. Fortunately, new approaches and new technologies allow better ways to manage parking, and these better ways turn out to be among the biggest opportunities open to cities for improving residents’ lives.

One car and lots of stuff in a two-car garage.

What’s in Your Garage?

A case study of absurd and pernicious parking rules.
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Ugly by Law

A photo essay on parking requirements and the ugly buildings they produce.
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Who Parked in My Spot?!

Neighbors, cars, and “your” curb space.
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Infographic: Living Space v. Parking Space

Your car’s bedroom is bigger than yours.
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Wide Open Spaces

Thousands of parking slots: vacant, unwanted, mandatory.
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When Your Parking Grows Up

A photo essay on what curb spaces can become.
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Park Place

Your parking costs more than your car.
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A department store in a mixed-use development still requires a large parking lot.

Park Raving Mad

Off-street quotas are just made up.
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Apartment Blockers

Parking rules raise your rent.
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Parking Karma

Denny’s and the weird economics of car storage.
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Underground Parking

The black market, apps, and the future of car storage.
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Park Raving Mad, Cartoon Edition

How cities invent parking quotas, in 71 animated seconds.
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Sightline Hits the Streets(blog)

“Parking? Lots!” visits the other Washington.
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There’s a Place for Us

A SF pilot project is step one toward park-topia.
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Curb Appeal

What if you could charge rent for “your” street space?
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Parking Break

Cities are already ditching parking quotas.
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Spot-less?

Parking quotas may wither away.
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How is Parking like a Sandwich?

In parking, as with ham-on-rye, there is no free lunch.
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