Every so often when reading an obituary of someone, or an awards citation, you realise that you have internalised their work into your thinking without having read it directly. So it was with Donald Shoup, the California transport academic who spent his life working on the problem of urban parking, and who died in February.
This is exactly the problem with parking privatization - it completely misses Shoup’s point! One of his core principles was that parking meter revenue should benefit the neighborhoods where it’s collected, creating a “positive feedback loop” for local improvements. When cities sell off parking rights to private companies (like Chicago’s infamous 75-year deal), they get a one-time payment but lose decades of potential community investment. Such a shame.
This is exactly the problem with parking privatization - it completely misses Shoup’s point! One of his core principles was that parking meter revenue should benefit the neighborhoods where it’s collected, creating a “positive feedback loop” for local improvements. When cities sell off parking rights to private companies (like Chicago’s infamous 75-year deal), they get a one-time payment but lose decades of potential community investment. Such a shame.