Iowa Rules

When my partner and I moved to the Quad Cities from western New York, we noticed something we started calling Iowa Rules (though you might as well lump in the Illinois Quad Cities too, here; it doesn't stop at the river). This is a change from our reality in other cities we'd lived in: specifically, the rule that there is always a closer parking space than you think. See, we'd been used to grabbing whatever parking we could near a location, and the new "Iowa Rules" were that we'd always find that we could have parked closer.

We've largely adjusted to this new reality in the years since, but today I want to explore why the Iowa Rules are actually not a good thing, no matter how convenient in the moment.

1. Too much parking means wasted space

The key thing about there always being a closer parking space is that we're talking about a closer empty parking space: after all, there were parking spaces in the other cities too, they'd just be filled. And that means that here in the QC we have a lot of space going empty: parking spots that are in excess of what we need. That space could be a parklet or a wider sidewalk or another lane of traffic (or better yet, a narrower street or a bike lane). If you can assume empty space when you're looking for a parking spot, that means there must by default be a lot of empty spots around, since everyone else is doing the same. And that's prime real estate, especially downtown, going to waste.

Also sometimes people won't park close to the next vehicle, because, well, there's so much space! And then that ends up being wasted too.

2. Too much parking encourages car-as-default

Rochester, NY is pretty car-centric already. But one of the few things that might actually encourage active transportation or communal transportation like walking, biking, and buses is that the car can also be inconvenient since you need to walk from our parking space, circle for that parking space, and often pay for it.

If none of that is true, then the car becomes much more attractive.

And while I'm not saying we should make everyone's lives awful, well, car-centric design is a vicious cycle that does itself make life worse. More cars means less design for other options (and less funding) which means less use of other options which means more cars and so on. 

Excessive parking even makes other forms of transportation less convenient itself, by making people walk further (to go past all that empty parking) and walk less safely (through all those spaces cars might suddenly decide to park in). So it's even worse than just the basic vicious car cycle; it's a special version.

3. The rare exceptions cause pollution and traffic

Once you believe that there is always a closer parking spot, you won't accept a further one. This means that when you get the rare circumstances when there is not actually a closer spot (say, Disney on Ice at the Vibrant Arena, or QCSO at the Adler) people circle. And circle. And circle. And they won't just park a block further away than they usually do because dang it they know there's a spot! And that makes for more traffic (circulating cars) and more pollution (... circulating cars). So once infinite parking becomes the norm, it's still a problem even when it doesn't exist.

Iowa Rules are great when you are specifically looking for a parking spot. But in the aggregate, it's not great for the city, the urban design, or for any of us.