Paved Paradise

Named one of the best books of the year by “ Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.” -- “Wry and revelatory.” -- -- An entertaining, enlightening, and utterly original investigation into one of the most quietly influential forces in modern American life--the humble parking spot Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a handful of Americans are tragically killed by their fellow citizens over parking spots. But even when we don’t resort to violence, we routinely do ridiculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Indeed, in the century since the advent of the car, we have deformed--and in some cases demolished--our homes and our cities in a Sisyphean quest for cheap and convenient car storage. As a result, much of the nation’s most valuable real estate is now devoted exclusively to empty and idle vehicles, even as so many Americans struggle to find affordable housing. Parking determines the design of new buildings and the fate of old ones, patterns of traffic and the viability of transit, neighborhood politics and municipal finance, the quality of public space, and even the course of floodwaters. Can this really be the best use of our finite resources and space? Why have we done this to the places we love? Is parking These are the questions <Slate< staff writer Henry Grabar sets out to answer, telling a mesmerizing story about the strange and wonderful superorganism that is the modern American city. In a beguiling and often absurdly hilarious mix of history, politics, and reportage, Grabar brilliantly surveys the pain points of the nation’s parking crisis, from Los Angeles to Disney World to New York, stopping at every major American city in between. He reveals how the pathological compulsion for car storage has exacerbated some of our most acute problems--from housing affordability to the accelerating global climate disaster--ultimately, lighting the way for us to free our cities from parking’s cruel yoke....

Auteur

Henry Grabar is a staff writer at Slate who writes about housing, transportation, and urban policy. He has contributed to The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal, and was the editor of the book The Future of Transportation. He received the Richard Rogers Fellowship from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and was a finalist for the Livingston Award for excellence in national reporting by journalists under thirty-five.

Texte du rabat

Shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize

Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New Republic

“Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.” —The&#160;New Yorker

“Wry and revelatory.” —*The New York Times

"A romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft, lust, greed, political chicanery and transportation policy gone wrong . . . highly entertaining."* —The Los Angeles Times

An entertaining, enlightening, and utterly original investigation into one of the most quietly influential forces in modern American life—the humble parking spot

Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a shocking number of Americans kill one another over parking spots, and we routinely do ri­diculous things for parking, contorting our professional, social, and financial lives to get a spot. Since the advent of the car, we have deformed our cities in a Sisyphean quest for car storage, and as a result, much of the nation’s most valuable real estate is now devoted to empty vehicles. Parking determines the design of new buildings and the fate of old ones, traffic patterns and the viability of transit, neighborhood politics and municipal finance, and the overall quality of public space. Is this really the best use of our finite resources? Is parking really more important than everything else?
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In a beguiling and absurdly hilarious mix of history, politics, and reportage, Slate staff writer Henry Grabar brilliantly surveys the nation’s parking crisis, revealing how the compulsion for car storage has exacerbated some of our most acute problems— from housing affordability to the accelerating global climate disaster—and, ultimately, how we can free our cities from park­ing’s cruel yoke.

Résumé
Shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize

“Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.” —The&#160;New Yorker*

*“You might expect a book about parking to be a snore.&#160;But . . . it’s a romp, packed with tales of anger, violence,&#160;theft, lust, greed, political chicanery, and transportation&#160;policy gone wrong . . . highly entertaining.” —*The Los Angeles Times*

Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America:&#160;each year a shocking number of Americans kill one&#160;another over parking spots, and we routinely do ridiculous&#160;things for parking, contorting our professional, social,&#160;and financial lives to get a spot. Since the advent of the car, we&#160;have deformed our cities in a Sisyphean quest for car storage,&#160;and as a result, much of the nation’s most valuable real estate is&#160;now devoted to empty vehicles. Parking determines the design&#160;of new buildings and the fate of old ones, traffic patterns and the&#160;viability of transit, neighborhood politics and municipal finance,&#160;and the overall quality of public space. Is this really the best use&#160;of our finite resources? Is parking really more important than&#160;everything else?

In a beguiling and absurdly hilarious mix of history, politics,&#160;and reportage, Slate staff writer Henry Grabar brilliantly surveys&#160;the nation’s parking crisis, revealing how the compulsion for&#160;car storage has exacerbated some of our most acute problems—from housing affordability to the accelerating global climate&#160;disaster—and, ultimately, how we can free our cities from parking’s&#160;cruel yoke.