Parking is at the heart of every fight about how we build our cities and towns, with effects that go far beyond transportation. Minimum parking requirements — laws that dictate how many parking spaces are required for various types of buildings and businesses — make housing more expensive, raise the price of goods and services and exacerbate sprawl, making congestion and the climate crisis much, much worse. Thankfully, a movement is afoot to end parking minimums, inspired by the work of Donald Shoup.
Shoup, the Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning, is the author of the 2005 book The High Cost of Free Parking. It’s an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the problems with parking. Professor Shoup — aka the Shoup Dogg — joins us for a spirited conversation about how to win what he calls “the war on parking subsidies.” {listen}