The parking mandates and subsidies prevalent in American cities stifle development and remove agency from property owners and residents.

On the Strong Towns podcast, John Pattison outlines the organization’s position that parking mandates and subsidies “are probably hobbling your city’s strength and resilience right now.” The 2022 Strong Towns strategic plan includes a priority campaign to end parking mandates and subsidies as one way to make land use more productive and make cities more livable and affordable.
According to Strong Towns, parking mandates raise the cost of construction, increase the need for public investment in infrastructure, and come with opportunity costs like the loss of valuable real estate to parking. “Maybe that’s what’s most insidious about parking mandates: they take away the flexibility and agency that homeowners, developers, business owners, and residents deserve.”
Parking mandates and subsidies are so universally bad that getting rid of them is one of the few one-size-fits-all-communities recommendations we make at Strong Towns.
“This one, reasonable change to our approach will unlock opportunities for more housing, more businesses, more outdoor seating, more parks and other public spaces, better public transportation systems, more pleasant places to walk and bike, and stronger and more financially resilient cities.”
FULL STORY: End the Parking Mandates and Subsidies That Are Hurting Our Cities

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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