Free and easy parking makes it hard to create affordable housing, create walkable neighborhoods. The city of Chicago says you need one parking space for every eight spots in a pew. Over half our church live within a bike ride. Some people walk. So they spent literally years looking for 18 parking spots to satisfy the city of Chicago.
In our quest to accommodate parked cars, we’ve paved over downtowns, polluted the planet, and made it near impossible to get anywhere without driving. Slate’s Henry Grabar explains Big Parking — and how electric cars might offer an opportunity to finally try something new.
This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Michael Raphael, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices