Book Club: Paved Paradise

Right.

One of the things that we've seen over the last five, 10 years is lots of changes in the land use regime in thinking about whether we're going to permit new apartments to be built without parking spaces and so on.

And unfortunately, not a lot of follow up in the transportation space to say, well, if we're going to allow a bunch of apartments without parking and we want people to live here without cars, then we need to redesign our streets and we need to properly fund our transit system.

And we need to make sure that people don't feel like second class citizens when they are trying to get somewhere on foot or on a bicycle.

And that is a crucial corollary, because otherwise you're building a bunch of housing without parking.

But the message you're sending to the people who live in those units is we expect you to drive.

And we built this city with that expectation in mind.

yeah but i mean like you like repeatedly drive home in the book like the the main thing that encourages people to drive and makes them feel like they have to use a car is the fact that like there's so much parking available and because there's so much parking available the amenities that you're trying to get to get pushed farther and farther apart from each other and yeah so it's like chicken and egg problem like you got to change one of them before before the other can follow and

It's a cycle, right? And I think we've witnessed this cycle in most American cities, which used to be places where you could pretty comfortably travel without a car.

And in fact, many households did happily exist without a car with just one car, right? Because there were still, even if one member of the household needed a car for certain errands or, you know, taking the kids to the park on Saturday, there were still a number of things you could do, such as get to work or get to the shops or get to the doctor's office that you could do on transit.

or on foot.

And as we have embraced this more auto centric mode of planning, that has entailed a low density style of development, that has made it impossible to do those trips without driving.

And so you do get this kind of vicious cycle of auto dependent land use, requiring people to drive.

And then once people are driving everywhere, well, yes, parking does come to be seen as a kind of vital life force that we need, you know, we need to access all these things that we

Back to what you were talking about, Parker, with like changing people's preferences and expectations for like what is an appropriate kind of parking experience.

I think it is notable to state that like and I think this came up kind of in a roundabout fashion in the book a couple of times that like.

even people today have different opinions and different expectations around parking.

Like Henry, I think you mentioned the classic tension of like, you know, a couple where they hate driving together to a place because like they can't stand their partner's, you know, like method of trying to find a good parking spot, right?

I know I'm of the mindset of whatever is the first one I see is the best one because then as soon as I get out of the car, I can start walking and then actually feel like I'm moving.

If I have to keep circling around for quote-unquote good one, I just get more and more frustrated, which is there is a Costco not too far from where I live that is able to be biked to, not without a bit of effort, especially on the way back carrying Costco amount of stuff, but...

But it is so much more enjoyable going there on bike than by car because I can pull up right to the front door where the bicycle parking is.

And I've never, ever had to worry about having enough space when I am getting there that way versus driving where at the very best, I have to go to the very furthest corner and hope that there is a spot available.

And there not always is.

Wow.

Isn't it always? Yeah.

Right.

One of the things that we've seen over the last five, 10 years is lots of changes in the land use regime in thinking about whether we're going to permit new apartments to be built without parking spaces and so on.

And unfortunately, not a lot of follow up in the transportation space to say, well, if we're going to allow a bunch of apartments without parking and we want people to live here without cars, then we need to redesign our streets and we need to properly fund our transit system.

And we need to make sure that people don't feel like second class citizens when they are trying to get somewhere on foot or on a bicycle.

And that is a crucial corollary, because otherwise you're building a bunch of housing without parking.

But the message you're sending to the people who live in those units is we expect you to drive.

And we built this city with that expectation in mind.

yeah but i mean like you like repeatedly drive home in the book like the the main thing that encourages people to drive and makes them feel like they have to use a car is the fact that like there's so much parking available and because there's so much parking available the amenities that you're trying to get to get pushed farther and farther apart from each other and yeah so it's like chicken and egg problem like you got to change one of them before before the other can follow and

It's a cycle, right? And I think we've witnessed this cycle in most American cities, which used to be places where you could pretty comfortably travel without a car.

And in fact, many households did happily exist without a car with just one car, right? Because there were still, even if one member of the household needed a car for certain errands or, you know, taking the kids to the park on Saturday, there were still a number of things you could do, such as get to work or get to the shops or get to the doctor's office that you could do on transit.

or on foot.

And as we have embraced this more auto centric mode of planning, that has entailed a low density style of development, that has made it impossible to do those trips without driving.

And so you do get this kind of vicious cycle of auto dependent land use, requiring people to drive.

And then once people are driving everywhere, well, yes, parking does come to be seen as a kind of vital life force that we need, you know, we need to access all these things that we

Back to what you were talking about, Parker, with like changing people's preferences and expectations for like what is an appropriate kind of parking experience.

I think it is notable to state that like and I think this came up kind of in a roundabout fashion in the book a couple of times that like.

even people today have different opinions and different expectations around parking.

Like Henry, I think you mentioned the classic tension of like, you know, a couple where they hate driving together to a place because like they can't stand their partner's, you know, like method of trying to find a good parking spot, right?

I know I'm of the mindset of whatever is the first one I see is the best one because then as soon as I get out of the car, I can start walking and then actually feel like I'm moving.

If I have to keep circling around for quote-unquote good one, I just get more and more frustrated, which is there is a Costco not too far from where I live that is able to be biked to, not without a bit of effort, especially on the way back carrying Costco amount of stuff, but...

But it is so much more enjoyable going there on bike than by car because I can pull up right to the front door where the bicycle parking is.

And I've never, ever had to worry about having enough space when I am getting there that way versus driving where at the very best, I have to go to the very furthest corner and hope that there is a spot available.

And there not always is.

Wow.

Isn't it always? Yeah.