The price of parking and everything else in cities

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003465515-11

In urban centers, parking emerges not merely as a commodity, but as a vital conduit, facilitating economic exchanges by connecting people to city offerings. The need for parking consumes significant portions of land, transforming these areas into guardians of mobility. As an important intermediate good and a voracious consumer of land, parking stands as a linchpin in the city's economic machinery. Failure to accurately gauge its value risks distorting pricing across all sectors, casting a shadow of inefficiency over the entire urban economy. This essay explores illustrative examples from the author's “Shoupista” work, examining how parking mispricing echoes through the urban landscape, distorting transportation costs, shaping retail price dynamics, and influencing the delicate price balance of housing markets.