Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World

“In our quest to make it as easy as possible to park, we’ve made it awfully hard to do anything else,” according to this eye-opening jeremiad from Slate columnist Grabar editor, The Future of Transportation). Noting that, in the U.S., “more square footage is dedicated to parking each car than to housing each person,” Grabar explains how mandatory parking minimums, which require a disproportionate number of parking spaces for new construction projects, severely limit options for building more housing and improving public transit and traffic patterns. Using vivid examples and illustrations, Grabar sketches the history of parking in the U.S., demonstrates the inefficiencies baked into parking minimums, and examines how their elimination or reduction has improved the quality of life in Chicago, L.A., and other cities. Throughout, Grabar grounds his astute analyses in empathetic profiles of reformers and activists like Baptist pastor Nathan Carter, whose desire to build a neighborhood church in Chicago was complicated by regulations mandating that he “needed one parking spot for every eight seats.” Contending that parking “is access of the most superficial sort, one that often papers over deeper inequities we’re unwilling to address,” Graber builds a powerful case that making parking a little more scarce will make Americans’ lives a lot better. This deep dive into an overlooked aspect of the modern world delivers. Agent: Alice Whitwham, Cheney Agency. (May)