Around the country, cities are throwing out their own parking requirements, hoping to end up with less parking – and more affordable housing, better transit, and walkable neighborhoods.

The city council in Austin, Texas recently proposed something that could seem like political Kryptonite: getting rid of parking minimums.

Those are the rules that dictate how much off-street parking developers must provide — as in, a certain number of spaces for every apartment and business.

Around the country, cities are throwing out their own parking requirements – hoping to end up with less parking, more affordable housing, better transit, and walkable neighborhoods.

  • offthecrossbar@lemm.ee
    2·
    1 year ago

    This is a change that needs to happen in junction with mixed use zoning, investments in public transit, and better development patterns in both urban and suburban environments to incentivise and allow people to comfortably make those trips without a car.

    I do acknowledge that there will still be those who either insist on driving or don’t currently have a reasonable alternative but don’t think that our cities should be catering to them as much as they do right now with parking minimums.

    • jmp242
      2·
      1 year ago

      don’t think that our cities should be catering to them as much as they do right now with parking minimums.

      I actually agree with this in general. I’d just like to see some more park and ride or nicer big parking garages in the small cities to acknowledge that anyone from the surrounding communities has to drive to get to the city and then needs to put that car somewhere while shopping, eating, whatever. Though for the park and ride we’d need a lot more bus service from there to the city, which I guess is hard to fund.