The fear of abolishing parking minimums

To this date, most countries in the world have parking minimums in their building codes and most cities will also have the same in their zoning ordinances. People accept the idea intuitively, simply because the lifestyle and societal norms we have in this 21st century presumes that cars are a necessary part of life. This has permeated human consciousness to a point that even non-car owners believe the thought, even if they constitute more than 80% of the population and parking is a non-issue to them.

We have written about parking minimums in the last few months, and there is a worldwide movement and advocacy to remove them which is gaining ground. In fact, quite a number of cities have already done so, notably (and surprisingly) in the US where the practice is assumed to have originated although countries in the west have similar codes. In the US, parking minimums emerged at the height of the “American Dream” decades there when everyone’s goal was to have a comfortable house in the suburbs, among neighbors similarly-situated as to economic status, the scene you often see in Hollywood movies. The low-density, far-from-the-center residences forced the need for cars.

The questions often asked by those who fear the taking away of parking minimums is the possibility of a shortage of on-site parking and the succeeding problems that may ensue. That is somewhat valid, of course, but it fails to capture the realities we already stated before that parking minimums were crafted on full-need assumptions and were standardized across land and floor uses which are widely varied, resulting in wasted space. The use and need of parking are very dependent on specific cases and this often sends developers and residents grumbling over unnecessary regulated space. Eliminating parking minimums does not mean eliminating parking. It means making developer and residents make the determination on whether or not they need parking and how much parking space they need. For some, they may need more than what was required under previously-coded parking minimums. But for many, they may not need any space at all and thus, can opt not to have/build one. This also takes care of the diversity of need among and within various land and floor uses.

Removing parking minimums can also result to redistribution of parking provisions over a larger area instead of on a per-building basis, and will encourage area-wide parking lots and buildings, which is more efficient. But advocates really zero in on the best positive desired result, which is to reduce parking demand, and ultimately, reduce car use. Former Bogota mayor Enrique Peñalosa often says, “The only way to solve the traffic jams is to restrict car use, and the most obvious way of restricting car use is restricting parking.” Doing away with parking minimums may not fully achieve that, but it is a first step of reducing unnecessary parking space, and will free up space for economic use as well. Not to mention having a more livable space.