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Jul 01, 2023

A Plea to Unleash the Power of Parking Reform

A parking lot in Buffalo, New York, which became the first major US city to

A parking lot in Buffalo, New York, which became the first major US city to eliminate parking minimums in 2017.

Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images

In Paved Paradise, author Henry Grabar explains how the lives of urban residents and drivers alike could be transformed by smarter parking policies.

David Zipper

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There are at least a billion parking spaces in the US, an expanse of asphalt that would cover an area twice the size of Connecticut. And yet, finding a good place to park — preferably free, and within a few feet of your destination — can still feel like an impossible quest. Available spots always seem to be too expensive, inconvenient or insufficient (and sometimes all three).

In his new book, Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World , journalist Henry Grabar argues that such perceptions are wrong. With examples ranging from canceled Southern California housing projects to the travails of a New York City parking attendant to the infamous deal that handed Morgan Stanley control over Chicago's parking meters, Grabar hammers away at his core message: Living in the US would be cheaper, healthier and simply more fun if we fixed our parking policies.