Shifting gears: why US cities are falling out of love with the parking lot

Cities are loosening rules on building parking spots with new buildings: ‘It’s about the climate, it’s about walkability’

They are grey, rectangular and if you lumped their population of up to 2bn together they would cover roughly the same area as Connecticut, about 5,500 sq miles. Car parking spaces have a monotonous ubiquity in US life, but a growing band of cities and states are now refusing to force more upon people, arguing they harm communities and inflame the climate crisis.

These measures, along with expansive highways that cut through largely minority neighborhoods and endless suburban sprawl, have cemented cars as the default option for transportation for most Americans.