Table of Contents

Preface , The Twenty-first Century Parking Problem , Planning for Free Parking , Unnatural Selection , The Pseudoscience of Planning for Parking , An Analogy: Ancient Astronomy , A Great Planning Disaster , The Cost of Required Parking Spaces , Putting the Cost of Free Parking in Perspective , An Allegory: Minimum Telephone Requirements , Public Parking in Lieu of Private Parking , Reduce Demand Rather than Increase Supply , Cruising for Parking , Cruising , The Right Price for Curb Parking , Choosing to Cruise , California Cruising , Cashing in on Curb Parking , Buying Time at the Curb , Turning Small Change into Big Changes , Taxing Foreigners Living Abroad , Let Prices Do the Planning , The Ideal Source of Local Public Revenue , Unbundled Parking , Time for a Paradigm Shift , Conclusion , Changing the Future , The Practice of Parking Requirements , Nationwide Transportation Surveys , The Language of Parking , The Calculus of Driving, Parking, and Walking , The Price of Land and the Cost of Parking , People, Parking, and Cities , Converting Traffic Congestion into Cash , The Vehicles of Nations , Afterword Twenty-First Century Parking Reforms

About the Author

Donald Shoup (University of California - Los Angeles, USA) (Author)

Reviews

George Costanza, the quintessential New Yorker, once said, "My father didn't pay for parking, my mother, my brother, nobody. It's like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay when, if I apply myself, maybe I can get it for free?" The High Cost of Free Parking, Donald Shoup's 733-page tour de force, has the answer. With the exception of a Monopoly board, there is no such thing as free parking. In fact, free parking turns out to be the biggest problem you never thought about. "We all want to park free," Shoup writes. "But we also want to reduce traffic congestion, energy consumption and air pollution. We want affordable housing, efficient transportation, green space, good urban design, great cities and a healthy economy. Unfortunately, ample free parking conflicts with all these other goals." But is this beach reading? Yes. Shoup is witty and profound. The Yoda of urban planning, he compares the current national parking situation to the overfishing of communal waters, an outbreak of cicadas, the Ptolemaic view of the universe, and all-you-can-eat buffets. The book inspired me to begin building an SUV-size apartment on wheels and park it in the Manhattan neighborhood of my choice. Call it "Alternate Side of Street Living." Why should cars be the only ones to get free, fully subsidized housing in New York City? - Aaron Naparstek, New York Press