Paved Paradise Book Review
Written by Evan Ferstl Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar. Photo from Penguin Press. Recently, I read the new book Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar. Given the current discussions around parking in State College, I thought this would be an interesting read and was not disappointed. Here are some of my main takeaways: There is a massive oversupply of parking in American cities Grabar makes many arguments familiar to anyone familiar with Strong Towns talking points. American cities have built so many parking spots that it has brought them to ruin. While most parking is free for parkers, it is expensive for cities to maintain, creating a massive subsidy (81). Parking availability is the number one predictor of car use, and greater car use in turn leads to an insatiable demand for more parking (82). Cities and their residents routinely believe incorrectly that they are facing a parking shortage. (85). This last point is particularl