Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings

Cities today face considerable land use, environmental, and economic challenges resulting from policies prioritizing automobiles and requiring ample off-street parking. In an effort to influence travel behavior and reduce parking supply, Buffalo (NY) adopted the Green Code in 2017. This zoning code reform repealed minimum parking requirements citywide and provided a “natural experiment” to investigate effects of parking deregulation among 36 major developments in its first 2 years. Our research produced two key findings. First, 47% of major developments included fewer parking spaces than previously permissible, suggesting earlier minimum parking requirements may have been excessive. Second, mixed-use developments introduced 53% fewer parking spaces than would have been required by earlier minimum requirements as developers readily took advantage of the newfound possibility to include less off-street parking. Aggregate parking spaces among single-use projects exceeded the earlier minimum requirements, suggesting developers of such projects were less motivated to deviate from accepted practices in determining the parking supply for urban development.

Takeaway for practice

Eliminating parking minimums can reduce unnecessary parking supply and encourage development constrained by excessive minimum requirements. Land use, location, and transportation demand initiatives affect the quantity of off-street parking supplied in response to market conditions. Our findings suggest mixed-use developers are likely to take advantage of the ability to provide less parking in highly accessible locations. Though many developers quickly pivot to the newfound possibilities of providing fewer parking spaces, others continue to meet earlier requirements. Cities of all types stand to benefit from undoing constraining parking policies of the past and allowing developers to transform parking lots to “higher uses.”

中文翻译：

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减去最小值

摘要

问题、研究策略和发现

由于优先考虑汽车和需要充足的路外停车位的政策，如今的城市面临着相当大的土地使用、环境和经济挑战。为影响出行行为和减少停车供应，布法罗（纽约）于 2017 年采用了绿色法规。这项分区法规改革废除了全市最低停车要求，并提供了一个“自然实验”，以调查在 36 个主要发展项目中停车放松管制的影响。它的第一个2年。我们的研究产生了两个关键发现。首先，47% 的主要开发项目包含的停车位少于之前允许的停车位，这表明早期的最低停车要求可能过高。第二，混合用途开发项目引入的停车位比早期的最低要求减少了 53%，因为开发商很容易利用新发现的可能性来减少街边停车位。一次性项目的停车位总数超过了早期的最低要求，这表明此类项目的开发商在确定城市发展停车供应时不太愿意偏离公认的做法。

外卖练习

取消停车最低要求可以减少不必要的停车供应，并鼓励受最低要求过高限制的发展。土地使用、位置和交通需求举措会影响根据市场条件提供的路外停车数量。我们的研究结果表明，混合用途开发商可能会利用在交通便利的地点提供较少停车位的能力。尽管许多开发商迅速转向提供更少停车位的新发现，但其他开发商继续满足早期的要求。取消过去的停车限制政策，允许开发商将停车场改造为“更高用途”，所有类型的城市都将从中受益。