The Prophet of Parking

For those who don't know, Shoup is a guru in planning circles for his theories of public parking and the damage created by free parking in downtowns.

Martha Groves writes, "According to Shoup, free parking is at the root of many urban ills: congestion, sprawl, wasteful energy use and air pollution.

City governments contribute to all these ills, he says, by requiring too many parking spaces for all development. The high cost of the required parking increases the prices we pay for everything else, including housing. "

Thanks to Melissa Chow