Minneapolis is mired in a debate over the role the automobile should play in the city's mobility mix. Many neighborhoods want to reduce surface parking and ease minimum parking requirements, but people still view the city as “a car town.”
Minneapolis seems stuck between a car-dependent past and a future of increased walking, biking, and transit use. Caught in the middle are city leaders and planners, who are working to loosen parking requirements and reduce surface lots while facing complaints over reduced availability.
"Striking a balance between too much and too little parking is a growing quandary, particularly as more residents bike, walk and take transit while also holding onto their cars," writes Eric Roper. Despite astonishing growth in the percentage of trips taken by bike, transit, and on foot from 2000-2010, the percentage of carless households in Minneapolis actually declined during that period.
“The first reaction of most neighborhoods would be that there’s not enough parking,” said Ted Tucker, president of the city planning commission. “But the trouble with that is, of course, the city may devote too many resources to parking automobiles and not enough to making life pleasant for pedestrians and bicyclists.”
Read the full story: Minneapolis seeks more people, not more cars
Twin Cities Parking Reform Shows Promising Results
Minneapolis and St. Paul both eliminated parking minimums, paving the way for less parking and more housing.
Minneapolis Eliminates Parking Requirements Citywide
Minneapolis joins the avant garde of cities implementing a dramatic overhaul of the parking requirement status quo that has been a primary determinant of the form and function of cities for nearly a century.
New Hampshire House Passes Parking Reform Bill
The revised bill, which caps parking requirements at one spot per residential unit and eliminates exemptions, will go back to the Senate for a new vote.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
This MA town is drowning in its own sewage — and residents like it that way
Susan Murcott, a waste water expert, said if Carlisle didn't address their leaking sewage, the problem could turn “deadly.”
Iowa taxpayers are paying thousands to clean manure out of their water
While the Clean Water Act makes states responsible for regulating factory farms that discharge pollutants, Iowa has turned a blind eye to the polluting farms.
Amtrak cuts ribbon on Seattle Airo maintenance facility
The $250 million, nearly 100,000-square-foot building can house an entire Cascades Airo trainset.
To power data centers, Google seeks autonomous control of thousands of homes’ electricity
The tech company has signed a deal to indirectly pay Mid-Atlantic residents to reduce their power demand when the grid is strained.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello