High Cost of Free Parking

by Donald Shoup

Overview

Off-street parking requirements are devastating American cities. So says the author in this no-holds-barred treatise on the way parking should be. Free parking, the author argues, has contributed to auto dependence, rapid urban sprawl, extravagant energy use, and a host of other problems. Planners mandate free parking to alleviate co

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367330019
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/23/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	752
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Donald C. Shoup, a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, is professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: The twenty-first century parking problem, Part 1 Planning for free parking, 2 Unnatural selection, 3 The pseudoscience of planning for parking, 4 An analogy: ancient astronomy, 5 A great planning disaster, 6 The cost of required parking spaces, 7 Putting the cost of free parking in perspective, 8 An allegory: minimum telephone requirements, 9 Public parking in lieu of private parking, 10 Reduce demand rather than increase supply, Part 2 Cruising for curb parking, 11 Cruising, 12 The right price for curb parking, 13 Choosing to cruise, 14 California cruising, Part 3 Cashing in on curb parking, 15 Buying time at the curb, 16 Turning small change into big changes, 17 Taxing foreigners living abroad, 18 Let prices do the planning, 19 The ideal source of local public revenue, 20 Unbundled parking, 21 Time for a paradigm shift, Part 4 Conclusion, 22 Changing the future

Editorial 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

From the Publisher