Why cities require parking
Observation
Minimum parking requirements set in mid-20th-century codes still govern construction in most cities, fixing land allocation decades after the assumptions behind them changed.
Narrative
Parking minimums reflect how much parking is needed.
Alternative View
The minimums were largely copied between municipalities without measurement, and now function as a hidden tax on housing and small business.
Unknowns
What is the actual peak utilisation of mandated parking? What happens to rents where minimums were abolished? Who bears the cost of an unused space?
Question
Who measured the demand the requirement is meant to satisfy?
Why It Matters
A copied number from the 1950s shapes what cities can physically become.