Rethinking Parking | SPUR - San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association

Rethinking Parking | SPUR - San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association

From a 1998 report of recommendations on accommodating more cars in San Francisco without destroying its urban advantages: "There is a lot at stake on our decisions about parking, in addition to the cost of housing. If we increase the amount of urban real estate we devote to our parking needs, we push activities farther away from each other, thereby forcing people to drive for even more daily needs. Increased parking becomes a vicious circle, where the more parking we build, the more people have no choice but to drive. Access-by-proximity, the great advantage that belongs to city dwellers, depends on a compact, intimate mingling of people and land uses. We cannot simultaneously provide parking spaces for each person at each destination, and still be a city that enjoys access-by-proximity."