The Cost of Parking in American Cities

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There's a brutal vicious cycle in what's happened with this ever-increasing allocation to space for parking. More parking ends up resulting in more traffic, more people searching for parking, not finding the parking they want and more release of exhaust fumes. In American downtowns, which in turn make those downtowns less friendly for walking, requiring more driving and parking.

For decades, urban planners have blanketed our cities with the cheap and convenient car storage known as parking. They've swapped sidewalks for strip malls and bulldozed bright, inviting storefronts to make room for dark, urine-scented parking garages. In some downtowns, more land is now devoted to parking than buildings.

Parking profligacy has left us with cities that are polluted and hostile to pedestrians; they're also increasingly unaffordable because legally required parking can drive up the cost of residential construction by 25 percent.

In "Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World," journalist Henry Grabar dares to imagine a future in which we knock parking off its pedestal by enacting new laws, adopting new attitudes, and embracing new technologies (like e-bikes and autonomous cars) that make our cities greener, friendlier, safer, and more fun.