Draft:Parking Reform Network

The Parking Reform Network is a nonprofit organization with a mission to educate the public about the impact of parking policy on the environment, equity, housing, traffic, and quality of life. The organization's focus is the elimination of parking mandates, improved management of existing parking supply, and other parking related reforms.

Background
Parking supply and management plays a significant role in many modern urban planning, zoning, and transportation planning systems. Historically, communities in the United States did not use zoning to regulate parking supply. By the 1950s, however, parking mandates to require a certain number of parking spots during development were common zoning practice as cities increased land-use regulations. In 2005 the American Planning Association published the influential Donald Shoup book The High Cost of Free Parking which examined the tragedy of the commons in relation to parking and curb management. The book suggested charging fair market prices for curb parking, returning parking revenue to neighborhoods for community investment, and removing the requirements for off-street parking for new development. As planning practice change these mandates, among other zoning issues, came under increased scrutiny citing housing, enviomrnetal, and urban sprawl concerns. In 2017 Buffalo, New York became the first major American city to abolish parking minimums with other cities quickly following. The Parking Reform Network was founded in 2019.

PRN Programs
The membership-based organization focuses on issues in urban planning, parking and land-use planning. The organization's advisory board includes Donald Shoup, Norman Garrick, and Todd Litman.

The organization's work includes the Reinventing Parking podcast, tracking and mapping parking policy reform, publishing policy documents concerning parking reform, providing parking reform related resources to members, connecting advocates and elected officials, and presenting at events and conferences. The group regularly contributes to media surrounding parking reform issues. In 2023 the Network began releasing parking lot maps of cities in the United States attracting significant media coverage. The maps were mentioned in Colorado's House Bill 24-1304 when introduce, and the signed act includes the Parking Reform Network's analysis on parking mandate impacts on rents.