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"The High Cost of Free Parking" On Top 10 Book List
Posted on March 01, 2006
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| Urban Planning Professor Donald Shoup |
Urban Planning Professor Donald Shoup’s recently published book, "The High Cost of Free Parking" (2005 American Planning Association), has been named a winner in Planetizen’s Fifth Annual Top 10 Books List, 2006 Edition. The book which has been called “an instant planning classic” by one reviewer was described as a “tour-de-force on free parking” as well as “the hands-down favorite for Top Books status” by Planetizen, a public-interest information exchange provided by Urban Insight for the urban planning, design and development community.
Shoup shares honors with other winners such as Joel Kotkin’s "The City: A Global History" and former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt’s "Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America."
Representing decades of study, the 700-plus page book, which has gained wide attention in the media and has quickly become influential in its field, highlights the many ways that a system of free parking has hidden costs and negatively impacts the way we live. Shoup argues that free parking contributes to dependence on cars, rapidly increases urban sprawl, wastes energy resources, and is detrimental to communities and the environment. In chapters with titles such as “Unnatural Selection,” “Circular Logic,” and “A Great Planning Disaster,” Shoup challenges many of the preconceived notions about free parking, and suggest strategies such as charging fair market prices for curb parking.
Shoup, whose background is in economics, engineering and planning, is a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He has focused much of his research on public finance, transportation, and land market and has extensively studied the issue of parking as a key link between transportation and land use.
This year’s Top 10 Books winners cover a wide range of planning and development issues from transportation and land use to housing and environmental design. More information on this year’s award winning books may be found at the Planitezen Web site at: http://www.planetizen.com/books/2006
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