Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World

by Henry Grabar

Retrofitting suburbia was going to be hard, but there was reason for optimism about a future in which families might move from three to two cars, or two to one: Journeys to work accounted for just 15 to 20 percent of trips, even before the pandemic. More than half of all trips in big U.S. metro areas were under one mile. In other words, half of all trips could be accomplished on foot, on a bike, or on a small electric vehicle, if roads were designed for that kind of travel. A surprising number of Americans already lived within half a mile of a retail cluster of more than twenty-five establishments, even in drive-alone cities. The share was 31 percent in Las Vegas, 40 percent in Atlanta, 55 percent in Los Angeles, and 67 percent in Miami. That number would grow if parking could be decoupled from housing and retail. Meanwhile, the rise of remote work, e-commerce, and small electric vehicles like e-bikes and scooters made car-light living easier than ever.