Thread by @_dmoser

Why parking is even worse than you thought.

Cities around the world are abolishing parking requirements🚗🅿️.

Toronto 🇨🇦 is just the latest.

But why?!👇

Parking requirements - a thread🧵

Firstly, parking requirements are random. They are neither based in research, nor data. Parking minimums are random government mandates to allocate a proportion of space on privately owned land for cars - no matter if necessary or not.

The building 🏢 below ? All lower floors are parking.

Why? Because.

Cities don't survey existing parking to see if their requirements are rational, and they often are not.

We have actually ruined our cities for parking lots.

Here is a mapping of parking in Little Rock, Arkansas 🇺🇸 👇👇

Parking minimums are based on assumptions that people drive their car everywhere. Not true. Large part of societies are neither capable to drive, nor able to afford driving. In many parts of the world more than 50% of people do not choose cars when they do have the alternative.

Parking minimums have tremendous negative impacts on

➡️ Climate change
➡️ Streetlife
➡️ Quality of life
➡️ Opportunities
➡️ Affordability

CLIMATE CHANGE

Parking takes enormous energy to construct. Produce and pour cement, and then build a structure on top of that. Especially cement produces carbon emissions in mass quantities.

Parking incentivizes more car driving. Cars are the most inefficient mode of transport and produce more carbon emissions than any other. More driving leads to the construction of more roads, automobile oriented planning and the marginalisation of other modes of transport. 👇👇

STREETLIFE & LIVEABILITY

Parking minimums lead to buildings like the one left. With housing placed up in the air and removed from street life. Joyful and liveable neighbourhoods are now illegal - also because of parking requirements.

OPPORTUNITIES
Because parking and driving takes up so much space - car oriented cities grow outwards and not upwards. This leads to increased distances, less population density and less opportunities in the vicinity. Small businesses struggle to survive.

New businesses, amenities or housing are outlawed or stay vacant because parking requirements cannot be met.

AFFORDABILITY

The construction of parking is the most expensive part of vehicular ownership. Parking space costs more to construct, rent and buy than many cars cost to lease/own.

1 parking spot included with an apartment typically accounts for ~10% of the monthly rental price.

Parking requirements dictate how much housing can be build. Higher parking requirements therefore limit housing and elevate the housing crisis, making housing less affordable.

This is not a small issue. We give more space for parking than we do for people. Just look at the size of the area in Los Angeles 🇺🇸 dedicated to parking 👇👇

Ask you government to abolish parking minimums and You will save the climate, increase quality of life, create thriving businesses and a more affordable city.👇

Before Vs. After in Amsterdam 🇳🇱

Inspired? Learn more about parking management in our @TUMInitiative publication 👇‍transformative-mobility.org/publications/o…

Like to learn even more on parking? Please have a look at the great work / tweets by @lukehklipp which inspired this thread. Please also have a look at the work by @DonaldShoup @PaulABarter @twjpdx23. I do recommend to follow all of these accounts.