Parking the Minimum Parking Requirement: Evidence from Nine U.S. Cities

After years of critiques of minimum parking requirements (MPRs), many cities have begun adopting a range of parking reforms. Using a quasi-experimental research design, this study examined the changes in parking supply across nine diverse U.S. cities that removed MPRs citywide, in central districts, or along transit. The results show that policy effects are shaped by market demand and the pre-existing policy environment. Cities targeting specific districts with low parking demand experienced the greatest reductions in parking supply. In others, MPR removal reinforced prior efforts to make parking mandates more flexible. Car-oriented, low-density cities saw little to no significant change.