Parkageddon: How not to create traffic jams, pollution and urban sprawl | The Economist

Parkageddon: How not to create traffic jams, pollution and urban sprawl | The Economist

EVEN if the new headquarters that Apple is creating in California does not prove to be "the best office building in the world", as Steve Jobs boasted shortly before his death in 2011, it will be an astounding sight. The main building resembles a flying saucer with a hole in the middle.

economist.com

The article is a bit lengthy, but it's good read on the problems with designing cities around the car. Approaches to traffic problems historically revolve around adding more lanes to highways. However, buzz around driverless cars has planners thinking seriously about reducing parking accommodations.

Personally, I think street parking should be abolished all together. They make intersections less safe because they obstruct the view of oncoming traffic, and when you're focused on trying determine if you can proceed, pedestrians become less visible. If cities did this, every street could have a protected bike lane and greenway, which would blow the door open for new, innovative city design.

Good design makes great cities with healthy people. If a city were to undertake such an effort, what kind of obstacles would they face?