The city council in Austin, Texas recently proposed something that could seem like political Kryptonite: getting rid of parking minimums.

Those are the rules that dictate how much off-street parking developers must provide — as in, a certain number of spaces for every apartment and business.

Around the country, cities are throwing out their own parking requirements – hoping to end up with less parking, more affordable housing, better transit, and walkable neighborhoods.

  • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    This sounds like it was pushed for by the development companies, not environmentalists. If this does anything except lower costs for businesses, I’ll eat my shoe.

          • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
            0·
            10 months ago

            But if there is no infrastructure to accomodate not driving, you havent made anything more walkable. Just less traversable.

            Walkability isnt when cars are harder to use so you have to walk, its when a space is designed to make walking convenient. This doesnt seem to be doing anything but making one type of transport harder to use. Without making other options better, its just going to build resentment in people for losing a formerly preferred transport and being forced to use currently worse transport instead.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
      0·
      10 months ago

      Will the use this newfound space to make the lives of the citizens or the lives of the corporations better?

      I know where my bets are, on average.

      • quindraco@lemmy.world
        01·
        10 months ago

        Cities are trash now, this will only make them worse because corporations are stupid. The new process will look like this:

        1. Buy plot of land.
        2. Build business without adequate parking.
        3. People park on the street, which will remain mysteriously legal but exacerbate the same disasters street parking already causes.
        4. Even with that, parking is insufficient. Business goes belly-up, causing urban blight.
        5. New investor goes to Step 1.