cities

Small town parking vision in the big city

Why do so many good parking management ideas encounter resistance? For example, charging for curb parking is a no brainer. Priced spaces are used more times per day and better serve customers and visitors. Pricing encourages people to use less-known off-street spaces, reducing pressure to build expensive new parking facilities. Moreover, pricing provides revenue for local improvements. The most successful business districts charge for curb parking; the lagging ones do not.

The Worst Parking Ever...

  Last month, I gave a parking management presentation to a community group in Silver Lake, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles. They told me they had the worst parking problems in the city. If I had a penny for every time a community group told me that their parking problems are the worst ever, I would be wealthy.
Photo credit: Shutterstock

Travels Across the Pond

After two years at home, sitting in a darkened room trying to make sense of research notes, wrestling slippery arguments into a book, I took the show on the road, spending half of April travelling around the US. It felt great to be out in the open, breathing in crisp spring air, talking to strangers. (Thankfully, my ability to converse with real live people had not been lost during my exile.)

#ForewordFriday: Fill Your E-reader Edition

Today is the first day of our summer e-book sale! All Island Press e-books are $4.99 on our site and at major electronic retailers until May 29th. With more than 600 e-books included, you can find classics and new releases on topics as diverse as architecture and urban planning, conservation biology, climate change, and energy production.

#ForewordFriday: Singin' in the Rain Edition

This urban rain garden two blocks from the Island Press office doesn't just help the city manage rainwater, it's also educates urbanites about rain, serves as wildlife habitat and is a lovely place to enjoy a frozen yogurt afternoon snack.  

Pages