The Goodspeed Update

This Tuesday I attended the “Earth Day Rollout” of a new book detailing the relationship between urban development and climate change.
Intuitively, it would seem logical to conclude that compact cities release less greenhouse gasses on a per capita basis than low density ones. We might hypothesize compact cities shorten distances between destinations, encourage walking and […]

Urban neighborhoods across America have a “parking problem.” Free curb spaces are hard to come by during busy times, especially in commercial areas. Because curb spaces are so much cheaper than garages, drivers continue to cruise for spaces. That’s the reason one of the major recommendations of parking reformers like Donald Shoup is raise the […]

The weekly newsletter circulated by my representative on the D.C. Council, Jack Evans, contains this personal plea for community members to attend an upcoming zoning hearing regarding a mixed-use redevelopment of the O Street Market:
O Street Market needs support from residents
The DC Zoning Commission will hold a Public Hearing on the O Street Market project […]

For decades, zoning codes in American cities have required new buildings to provide a minimum number of parking spaces. The Washington, D.C. region is no exception, and our zoning codes contain a hodgepodge of requirements resulting in legally mandated parking spaces from Clarksburg to Springfield. A new book causing waves in the urban planning profession has put these requirements in the spotlight, arguing they have resulted in nothing less than a total “planning disaster” for American cities.

Read more to find out why Professor Shoup thinks our parking policies have “debased” our cities, what he thinks we should do about it, and how D.C. officials are re-thinking their parking policies.

Less than one mile from the District of Columbia stands acres of vacant land. Wildflowers and grasses have gone to seed on a long-abandoned playing field (above). Weeds sprout in a dry, sun-drenched lot (below). An abandoned warehouse sits on land abutting picturesque parkland. Although large lots of undeveloped land inside the beltway are rare […]