The first point I noted above is that requiring off-street parking is counter-productive for virtually every city’s goals. Period. It’s a statement of values that says: “Parking for cars is more important than housing for humans, the economic success of our city, public space, access to economic opportunity for all or climate change.” People who advocate for off-street parking requirements are saying, “My personal convenience trumps other issues, or the greater good.” Provision of parking requires land—whether at-grade, above or below—and that land comes at a cost. It means the same land can’t be used for any other human uses, from housing to shops to outdoor space.

This is setting aside the practical, real-world issue that it’s impossible for any of us to truly guess what the demand is for parking, any more than the demand for avocados. It’s dynamic, especially today with an increasing array of mobility options. We need to move beyond these requirements for anywhere that is walkable or trying to be walkable, and it’s exciting to see so many people working in this direction.

But… (And There’s Always a “But”)

But this is not to say there’s no demand for parking or for accommodating parking. It also doesn’t mean that redevelopment will just magically happen if there are no parking rules. That’s not true, either. It’s still important to plan for parking. I’d argue that it’s especially important to enable the kind of messy urbanism I’m often describing on this site. I wish it weren’t the case, but it is. This is how nuance works versus rigid ideology. When ideas or theories meet the real world, you can either a) dig an ideological hole and appear to be virtuous, or b) try to solve actual problems of actual human beings and places.

Part of the reality of American cities is that we are very, very car-dependent. Most of you know this. It’s been written about ad nauseam. But in our current excitement for urbanism, we tend to want to wish that away. I certainly wish it weren’t true. But I’m faced with reality every day, and so are most of you. We can and should continue to strive to make our walkable places more walkable, and to have first-class options for getting around: biking, transit, TNC’s, and scooters. But the other side of the coin is that most of our built environment is designed around cars, and a huge amount of the public is going to drive to your walkable neighborhood. If we ignore that and don’t plan for it, we will limit the opportunity for urban places to be successful in 2019, and to attract more residents. If we over-regulate or plan poorly, we run the risk of super-charging affordability problems and creating economic fragility by only making large projects viable.

There’s a delicate balance, of which we need to be mindful.