The Shoup Doctrine: Essays Celebrating Donald Shoup and Parking Reforms

In The Shoup Doctrine: Essays Celebrating Donald Shoup and Parking Reforms, edited by Daniel Baldwin Hess, 37 city planners, economists, journalists, and parking professionals analyze three major parking reforms proposed by Donald Shoup, a Distinguished Research Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA. First, remove off-street parking requirements; second, use market prices to manage on-street parking; third, spend the parking meter revenue to fund added public services on metered blocks. These parking reforms can align individual incentives with collective objectives and produce enormous benefits at low or no cost. All these benefits will result from subsidizing people, not parking. Shifting the cost of parking to the parkers will make cities more expensive for cars and more livable for people. Shoup has spent his career encouraging everyone to rethink relationships between parking and the built environment, traffic congestion, energy consumption, and local economic development. This book celebrates Shoup’s decades-long contributions to research, practice, and education and demonstrates how parking reform can support affordable housing development, lessen air pollution, and reduce automobile dependency. This book will be of interest to urban planners, developers, elected officials, students, and citizen advocates who are passionate about reducing automobile dependency and creating more sustainable and vital cities.

Table of Contents:
In Memoriam & Donald Shoup, Renowned UCLA Urban Planner and Parking Reform Pioneer Foreword & Preface Part I. Introduction 1. The Shoup Dogma Part II. The Legacy of Donald Shoup as Researcher, Educator, and Mentor 2. A Research Topic is Born: Parking 3. A Planning Educator Intently Focused on Planning Practice 4. The Wit and Wisdom of Donald Shoup 5. Cracks in the Pavement Part III. Theories of Parking Reform 6. Practical Theory for Curb Parking 7. Parking Restraint: The Next Frontier in Parking Reform 8. The Price of Parking and Everything Else in Cities 9. The Shoup World and Transaction Costs 10. What about Women? 11. The Challenge of Eliminating Parking Requirements where Curb Parking is Free 12. Streetscapes without Curbside Parking 13. Parking, Urban Freight, and Curb Space Allocation for a Diversity of Uses 14. In Praise of On-Street Parking Part IV. Challenges and Successes of Implementing Parking Reform 15. Building a Movement for Parking Reform 16. The Message and the Messenger: How Donald Shoup Inspired a Generation of California Parking Reformers 17. Conversations with Donald Shoup on The Parking Podcast 18. Breaking up the Asphalt: The Growing Fight to End Parking Minimums 19. Minimum Versus Maximum Parking Requirements: Reflections on the Repeal of Parking Mandates in Buffalo 20. No Parking Minimums; Still So Much Parking; What Would Shoup Do? 21. Donald Shoup and San Francisco: Real-World Success for Parking Reform 22. The Theory of Parking Occupancy: Data versus Opinion 23. How the Shoupistas Changed my Downtown 24. Parking Reform: Habits and Traits that Resist it and Ways to Overcome Them 25. Donald Shoup’s Lasting Impact on the Parking Profession Part V. The International Reach of Parking Reforms 26. Parking Reform and Social Justice in Brazil 27. Post-Pandemic Parking Reforms in Europe 28. How Decades of Shoupian Parking Reformation Transformed Zürich 29. Professor Shoup’s Influence on Parking in Mexico City 30. Professor Shoup in China 31. Parking Optional: A New Era for Urban Planning in New Zealand 32. Melbourne, Los Angeles, and Donald Shoup’s Influence in Australia Part VI. Conclusion 33. A Golden Age of Parking Management Afterword: The Birth of a Doctrine

About the Author :
Daniel Baldwin Hess is Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. His research addresses interactions between housing, transportation, and land use with a view toward making cities more equitable and livable, and he is past winner of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Fellowship and two Fulbright Scholar Awards.

Review :
“While identifying and addressing the hidden costs of free parking, Donald Shoup’s work has engaged a far broader range of urban issues. Bringing together diverse voices inspired by Shoup, this compendium addresses critical issues facing cities, from equity, climate change, and sprawl to freight, micromobility, and the cut-throat politics of parking.” Ann Forsyth, PhD, Department Chairperson and Ruth and Frank Stanton Professor of Urban Planning in the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University “Donald Shoup is a giant in the world of urban transportation research and parking reform. He has done the world a tremendous service by teaching us about the foolishness of free parking regulations. Unusually for a first-rate scholar, he has also had a meaningful impact on urban policy. The Shoup Doctrine is a worthy tribute to him. It sparkles with essays from some of the best urbanist minds in the world, and I recommend it (and Donald Shoup's writing) highly. “ Edward Glaeser, PhD, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics and Chairperson of the Department of Economics, Harvard University “Donald Shoup showed the world that something as colorless as parking reform can be transformative and far beyond wonky … it is empowering! What a mess we’ve made. This book is a collective ‘Thank you!’ to Donald Shoup for shining the light on parking darkness.” Emily Talen, Ph.D., Professor of Urbanism, University of Chicago “Donald Shoup is that rare academic who fully merges theory and practice in ways that are changing our cities. What a career. What a man. The Shoup Doctine is a must for anyone interested in transportation policy and practice—and how to merge the two.” Daniel Sperling, PhD, Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy and Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis “I’ll never forget the first time I saw a citizen stand up at a community meeting and quote a 750-page tome called The High Cost of Free Parking. Has a set of wonky, academic, urban planning ideas ever so successfully escaped the ivory tower as Donald Shoup’s? The Shoup Doctrine demonstrates once and for all that in the Land of the Car-Blind, the professor who spent his career looking at parking is king.” Aaron Naparstek, Founder of Streetsblog and The War on Cars podcast “Donald Shoup's groundbreaking contributions to parking policy are celebrated in this collection of essays. This volume showcases how his thought leadership in parking reform can reshape cities, including market-priced curb parking and parking minimums. This tribute underscores Shoup's enduring influence on urban planning, illustrating how thoughtful reforms can foster more livable and equitable communities.” Susan A. Shaheen, Ph.D., Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley “The Shoup Doctrine is a gem in urban literature, demonstrating how the modern city was profoundly shaped by obscure parking policies and how quality research and sensible ideas can drive reform.” Bruce Katz, Co-author of The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism (Brookings Institution Press, 2018) “Donald Shoup is the most creative scholar-theorist, and tinkerer to boot, of our time at the nexus of urban land use and transportation. This volume is a superb introduction to his work—and, like the man himself, often delightful as well. An invaluable read for anyone with a serious interest in how better land use policies might improve the quality of urban life.” Alan Altshuler, Ph.D., Harvard University "Donald Shoup's campaign against mandatory parking minimums has been one of the best ideas for making our cities more livable, pleasant, and efficient. I am delighted to see Shoup and his ideas finally receiving their due recognition, both at the level of actual reforms and also in this volume." Tyler Cowen, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, George Mason University “Donald Shoup has taught us how to make cities vibrant through the lenses of parking policy reform. This book eloquently details his path-breaking ideas through his own writings but also through the voices of his disciples: former students, planners, and policymakers pushing them forward. It is a must read for anyone caring about cities and their people.” Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles "Donald Shoup's insights, brought together in this collection, challenge long-held planning norms and offer a roadmap for parking reform that benefits cities and communities. A compelling and informative read for practitioners and academics alike." Charles Marohn, Founder and President of Strong Towns “Donald Shoup showed us that public space filled with free car storage is not part of the natural order—it’s a political choice. The Shoup Doctrine shows us the many benefits that insight makes possible and is a must read for anyone who cares about the vibrancy of public space.” Howard Yaruss, Assistant Professor, New York University and author of Understandable Economics “The authors of this collection do great work showing how Donald Shoup’s rebellious calculation of the true cost of free parking shaped parking theory and practice in the XXI century. This book is essential and inspiring reading for anyone involved in urban transportation planning and management.” Itzhak Benenson, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University “These essays about the Shoup Doctrine confirm our debt to this exceptional thought leader. Donald Shoup has opened our eyes to clearly see the impact and cost of urban parking, and that has unquestionably redefined twenty-first century urban planning.” David Mepham, Ph.D., Author of Rethinking Parking: Planning and Urban Design Perspectives (Routledge, 2024) “Shoup’s work is a reminder that critical research and creative policy craftsmanship can change an industry. This book is a celebration of one of urban planning’s greatest minds.” Lauren Mattern, Founder of Journey “If you have any interest in the prosaic puzzle of parking, The Shoup Doctrine, a collection on his work, is a must read, with new insights into Shoup’s groundbreaking and influential work. The authors carry on and extend his scholarly research with readable, often amusing descriptions, which help transform the practice around this previously overlooked topic. Robert T. Dunphy, Emeritus Fellow, Transportation Research Board and Emeritus Fellow, Urban Land Institute