The High Cost of Free Parking
by Donald C. Shoup, Mike Chamberlain, Gildan Media · first published 2005
74% recommend25% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Exhaustive, economics-driven case that free and mandated parking distorts car use, housing costs and city development; suits anyone interested in urban planning, parking minimums, or pricing street parking.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The High Cost of Free Parking is an urban planning book by UCLA professor Donald Shoup dealing with the costs of free parking on society. It is structured as a criticism of the planning and regulation of parking and recommends that parking be built and allocated according to its fair market value. It incorporates elements of Shoup's Georgist philosophy.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2023–2025Paved Paradise
Henry Grabar
Recommended by 4 · mentioned by 64 recommend · 6 mention4 recommend · 64 recommend
2012–2018Human transit
Jarrett Walker
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 33 recommend · 3 mention3 recommend · 33 recommend
2013–2026Walkable city
Jeff Speck
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 97 recommend · 9 mention7 recommend · 97 recommend
2008–2024Traffic
Tom Vanderbilt
Recommended by 25 · mentioned by 3025 recommend · 30 mention25 recommend · 3025 recommend
2014–2023Happy City
Charles Montgomery
Recommended by 10 · mentioned by 1510 recommend · 15 mention10 recommend · 1510 recommend
2014–2026Fighting traffic
Peter D. Norton
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 157 recommend · 15 mention7 recommend · 157 recommend
2011–2026Triumph of the City
Edward L. Glaeser
Recommended by 16 · mentioned by 3216 recommend · 32 mention16 recommend · 3216 recommend
2009–2024The Geography of nowhere
James Howard Kunstler
Recommended by 21 · mentioned by 2721 recommend · 27 mention21 recommend · 2721 recommend
If you're interested in this topic, Donald Shoup's The High Cost of Free Parking and Edward Glaeser's The Triumph of the City are both worth reading. The former explains how "free" parking isn't really free and how it distorts a lot of behavior, and the latter is about what cities…
on “Cars Kill Cities” ↗…The only way to use quality and efficient urbanism to improve the environment is to build more of it and no demand or price increase will do that because, as I mentioned, it's illegal. I recommend "The High Cost of Free Parking" by Dr. Shoup, and "The Geography of Nowhere" by Kunstler if you want to understand more.
on “Diamonds Are Bullshit” ↗…to dig a deep hole to ensure the foundations of the building are secure - get into the bedrock, especially in earthquake zones. Whether the car parks are below or above ground is moot. That said - The High Cost of Free Parking (1) and The Walkable City (2) are both excellent reads on the matter of parking and car parks. The second is the more readable. (1) http://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Parking-Updated-Edition/dp/1... (2)…
on “Apartment Blockers: Parking Rules Raise Your Rent” ↗…planning. I have studied urban planning and urban form. Nothing helped me to understand American cities and why they work the way they do more than Dr. Shoup's work in the 1990s that is collected in The High Cost Of Free Parking. Some of it is gritty and technical econometric research, but a lot of it is creative and insightful. It's not a single narrative, but a fun book to dip into in various places from time to time if you…
on “Cars Kill Cities” ↗Parking isn't undervalued. People just pay in time, not money. Better to say that it's inefficiently priced. Shoup's "The High Cost of Free Parking" is the bible on that: http://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Parking-Updated-Edition/dp/1...
on “Stop The JerkTech” ↗…poor people. The argument is: * mandatory parking is imposed by urban planners * mandatory parking raises costs for all people * poor people are less able to absorb the increased costs Shoup's The High Cost of Free Parking goes into a lot of detail and approaches it from the point of view of planning theory. It's a good read, I recommend it.
on “Poor people pay for parking even when they can’t afford a car” ↗Eye opener to me "The High Cost of Free Parking", Donald Shoup (book not the paper)
on “Let’s not demonize driving, just stop subsidizing it” ↗…high level understanding of transportation systems. Tom Vanderbilt - Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do Anthony Downs - Stuck in Traffic (and the follow-up, Still Stuck in Traffic) Donald Shoup - The High Cost of Free Parking And of course Jarrett Walker's Human Transit :-) EDIT: The rationale is that all of these engagingly explain something interesting that isn't necessarily intuitive or apparent to regular everyday users…
on “Human Transit (2011)” ↗Donald Shoup's The High Cost of Free Parking is germane here: https://www.city-journal.org/html/high-cost-free-parking-146.... It is surprising that the article doesn't even name-check it.
on “San Diego Mayor proposes allowing some housing projects with no parking spaces” ↗A must read classing for anyone interested in this topic: The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup https://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking-Updated/dp/193...
on “Could New York City Eliminate Free Street Parking?” ↗I my recommend “The High Cost of Free Parking” by Donald Shoup to get a sense of what planners actually think about street parking.
on “The Rise of “Movie-Set Urbanism”” ↗…attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away. " Not sure what you're getting at here but if you think you deserve free private car storage on public land you might try reading The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup.
on “Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore” ↗…should priced such that only 85% of it is being used (thus always allowing for new arrivals), but not cheap enough so that people spend an "inordinate" amount of time taking up a spot. See the book The High Cost of Free Parking by Shoup for details and references: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_High_Cost_of_Free_Parking Vox has a short video on the topic: * https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/7/19/15993936/high-cost-of-f...
on “Parking kills businesses, not bikes or buses” ↗…rules and car-oriented development cannot gain a foothold against free organic urbanity. [0] https://books.google.com/books?id=pkmluwVdwx0C [1] http://www.uctc.net/papers/351.pdf See also Shoup's The High Cost Of Free Parking book.
on “If So Many People Support Mass Transit, Why Do So Few Ride? (2014)” ↗Shimon is correct. If you'd like more detail on the subject, see some of the articles in City journal: http://www.city-journal.org/ or The High Cost of Free Parking: http://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking/dp/1884829988 or The Option of Urbanism: http://www.amazon.com/Option-Urbanism-Investing-American-Dre...