The effort to reclaim public and private spaces from car storage had some setbacks since the days of al fresco and open streets in the first years of Covid-19. But widespread parking reforms and new evidence shows the public is rethinking parking.

The empty streets and suffering business that defined the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic also prompted a fresh look at the public realm, inspiring many cities and communities to reclaim and transform some of the spaces previously reserved for automobile storage into spaces for other activities, such as play, dining, and exercise.
The programs that recovered parking spaces for more active, human uses retreated, to a degree, in the ensuing months and years: while some cities have made outdoor dining programs and parklets permanent, others have reopened streets to cars, rescinded permitting programs, and dialed back ambitions for a post-parking future.
Oliver Moore, writing for the Globe and Mail, makes the case that despite these setbacks for the cause, "the broader pattern is a gradual dismantling of the decades-long assumption that more parking is inherently better." Moore points to the parking reforms underway in Canadian cities, first in Edmonton, followed by more than a dozen other cities as support for the argument (the parking reform trend is also obvious in the United States).
"Perhaps the biggest recent shift in attitudes around parking has been the recognition of just how much value may be forgone by using desirable urban real estate as car storage," writes Moore. A recent report assigns financial value to the choice between parking or other uses of urban space.
Researchers for an association of local business improvement areas estimated that customers spent $181-million in the repurposed parking spaces in the summer of 2021. The same spaces would have generated $3.7-million in parking revenue, according to the local parking authority, and even that modest figure assumed prepandemic levels of demand.
Moore's conclusion, with more examples and and appeals to authority, included in the source article (which requires an email to read for free): people are slowly waking up to the idea that parking doesn't play the same role in cities as it did in the 1950s.
FULL STORY: New spin on parking spaces during pandemic reaps benefits

New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition
Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to create more housing has once again run into a brick wall of opposition in New York’s enormous suburbs, especially on Long Island. This year, however, the wall may have some cracks.

Rethinking the Role of Parking in the American City
In cities big and small, the tide is turning against sprawling parking lots, car-centric development, and minimum parking mandates.

Friday Eye Candy: 20 AI-Generated Cityscapes
AI-generated images are creating new landscapes and cityscapes, capable of inspiring awe or fear.

Proposed Pool Would Make an Olympic-Sized Play Area in the San Francisco Bay
The San Francisco Bay is usually an undesirable place to swim, except for a hearty few. A development proposal seeking assistance at the state level would add a pool to the Bay’s waters to make the idea of going for a swim more appealing.

Chicagoland Transit Agencies Call for State Funding as Budget Shortfall Looms
Illinois transit agencies want to see changes to a law requiring them to collect half of their revenue from transit fares, arguing that low ridership and staffing shortages will lead to a massive budget gap without intervention.

Panel: Minneapolis Zoning Updates Should Reflect Mixed-Use Future
A discussion of post-pandemic changes in work and commuting concluded that the city’s overhaul of its zoning code should be less restrictive with land uses.
Princeton Planning
City of College Park
Houston-Galveston Area Council
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
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.