Free easily-accessible parking rewards car ownership and pushes up the cost of housing, argue Rebecca Clements and Alan March.
Australia's parking minimums and other parking policies are widely acknowledged to be outdated and dangerous to the environment, but efforts to move away from this type of 'predict-and-provide,' have been incomplete and sporadic. Rebecca Clements and Alan March write that, while efforts to price parking based on demand have suffered from being irregular, "Australian planners have largely ignored the untapped potential of car park policy to be one of planning’s fundamental control mechanisms," they write in Foreground.
They point out that parking can compete for space with other forms of transportation, and parked cars can present a danger to cyclists who risk being doored. "Parking can directly compromise the adoption of active and sustainable modes of transport," Clements and March write. Also, access to free parking can entice would-be transit riders to drive.
FULL STORY: Car parking is choking our cities, and we’re paying for the privilege
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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