More cities and states are recognizing the harmful impacts of minimum parking requirements, which in many cases have accelerated sprawl and raised the cost of housing construction.

California’s recent decision to eliminate parking requirements at developments near public transit could have a major impact on the country’s parking lot ‘addiction,’ writes Ciara Nugent in Time. “The move will encourage developers to build more affordable homes for people who don’t want a parking space, and generate ‘more walkable neighborhoods and public transit,’ [California Governor] Newsom said.”
According to Nugent, “The shift is heartening for climate advocates who believe redesigning cities and how people move around them must be a critical part of the country’s efforts to reduce its outsize greenhouse gas emissions from cars.” The law doesn’t bar developers from building as much parking as demand calls for, but prevents cities from maintaining often exaggerated requirements that drive up building costs.
The article details the history of minimum parking requirements, which began as a reaction to the sudden influx of automobiles to cities as the invention became more affordable. “As more people bought cars, a self-fulfilling cycle set in: cities started to separate districts by use, assuming everyone can drive from their residential area to their shopping area to their office. Large highways began to cut through town centers, making it harder to cycle or walk.”
Today, the tide is slowly turning against parking as cities and states eliminate parking minimums, invest in public transit and other multimodal infrastructure, and encourage developers to build denser, more transit-oriented development that reduces the American overreliance on cars.
FULL STORY: Americans' Addiction to Parking Lots Is Bad for the Climate. California Wants to End It

Red Cities, Blue Cities, and Crime
Homicides rose across the nation in 2020 and 2021. But did they rise equally in all cities, or was the situation worse in some than in others?

The Shifting Boomer Bulge: More Bad News for America’s Housing Crisis?
In the first of a two-part series, PlaceMakers’ Ben Brown interviews housing guru Arthur C. Nelson on the sweeping demographic changes complicating the housing market.

A Serious Critique of Congestion Costs and Induced Vehicle Travel Impacts
Some highway advocates continue to claim that roadway expansions are justified to reduce traffic congestion. That's not what the research shows. It's time to stop obsessing over congestion and instead strive for efficient accessibility.

New York Garbage ‘Containerization’ Pilot Not Replicable at Scale
The city’s sanitation department says the program, while successful on one block, would be too difficult and expensive to implement citywide.

IPCC Report: The World Is Running Out of Time on Climate Change
The planet is not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent report published by the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Skyline-Defining High-Rise Potentially Coming to Boise
A rendering making the rounds in Boise depicts a 40-story apartment building that would be taller than all other buildings in one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) AmeriCorps Program
Cornell University
Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact: Mobility, Community, Possibility
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
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.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.