Book Recommendation: ‘Paved Paradise’ by Henry Grabar

Recommended by DOMINIC FRANDRUP, Director, Door County Library

Many places in Door County are experiencing parking-related issues. Businesses and local governments have questions and concerns about the sustainability, expansion and costs of creating and maintaining parking infrastructure, so this month I’m recommending Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar.

I’m finding this nonfiction title to be very engaging as it’s a history of vehicle parking, but particularly cars. It covers the history of parking minimums and zoning for the construction of commercial and residential parking spaces beginning in the 1920s. The item that really stunned me was that the U.S. builds more three-car garages than one-bedroom apartments.

The book details how parking spaces have overtaken urban and suburban areas and are eliminating spaces that could be used for housing. Creating parking significantly raises the cost of building needed housing and commercial development. Parking spaces also increase the physical distance needed to get from one place to another, so areas are even less pedestrian friendly as we have to cross parking lots to reach our destinations. 

I am still pondering the implications of how parking is affecting Door County, what that means for future housing developments, and the spaces used for cars when so many establishments need people – not necessarily the cars they drive – to run their businesses and serve their clients.

Several news stories have come out in response to this book, so I’d expect more conversations and research around solving parking-space issues to continue.