Some communities are looking at reducing the amount of free parking lots, and dismantling the zoning codes that mandate them, in hopes of encouraging people to leave their cars at home and use other forms of transportation.
In his column, Alan Durning asserts that the abundance of subsidized parking lots is allowing the nation to continue to drive our cars everywhere. "Free parking, it turns out, is a powerful cause of the nation's unquenchable thirst for gasoline. The driving that induces this thirst underlies an array of national concerns, not just rising fuel prices but also global climate change, dependence on foreign oil, tightening traffic snarls, relentless sprawl and worsening urban smog." Durning proposes other uses for parking lots, and points out several Washington communities that are taking the first steps.
Thanks to Christian Peralta
FULL STORY: Cheap parking spaces drive up fuel prices
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research