This article was originally published by The Conversation.

For the past century, the public and private sector appear to have agreed on one thing: the more parking, the better.

As a result, cities were built up in ways that devoted valuable space to storing cars, did little to accommodate people who don’t own cars and forced developers to build expensive parking structures that increased the cost of living.

Two assumptions undergird urban parking policy: Without convenient parking, car owners would be reluctant to patronize businesses; and absent a dedicated parking spot for their vehicle, they’d be less likely to rent and buy homes. Because parcels of urban land are usually small and pricey, developers will build multistory garages. And so today, a glut of these bulky concrete boxes clutter America’s densely populated cities.

We have been studying urban development and parking for decades. The car’s grip over city planning has been difficult to dislodge, despite a host of costs to the environment and to the quality of life for many city dwellers.

But we see signs that that’s finally starting to change.

A relic of the car craze

As car ownership exploded in the first half of the 20th century, municipalities started to mandate a minimum number of parking spaces whenever new stores or apartment complexes were built.

Many of these regulations continue to bluntly guide development.

For example, Boulder, Colorado, still requires one parking space per apartment, one spot for every three restaurant seats and one spot for every 175 square feet of retail space. Your community’s zoning regulations are likely all too similar.

Yet parking garages and parking lots end up using precious land to house cars instead of people at a time when cities are confronted with a severe housing shortage and skyrocketing housing costs. Only 20% of homes for sale are affordable to people making average incomes.

A 2016 study found that it cost roughly US$24,000 to $34,000 to build every single new parking space in a garage – an amount that has surely grown. Developers typically pass on this expense to renters or buyers.

Parking requirements are a particular burden at many affordable housing developments, where low-income residents are less likely to own cars. Nonetheless, because of these requirements, they receive and inadvertently pay for parking all the same.

Parking garages are monuments to outdated beliefs about what makes cities thrive. They increasingly cater to cars that are rarely used – the typical car is parked 95% of the time – and ultimately facilitate urban sclerosis.

Do U.S. cities still need to require the construction of parking spots for new residential and retail projects? Aren’t developers, designers and investors better positioned to worry about these issues for customers, clients or tenants?

Regulation reform

Thankfully, in some parts of the country, a course correction is already underway.

City planners, developers and designers now have new guidelines that make parking spots less of a priority and take into account all of the new ways people get around.

Dozens of cities, including Denver and Minneapolis – along with the entire state of California – are reforming parking requirements, promoting transportation alternatives and amending regulations for new construction.