urbanists.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
We're a server for people who like bikes, transit, and walkable cities. Let's get to know each other!

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What's missing from these pictures?

No on-street parking makes all the difference in the cities of . The 1962 "proof-of-parking" law means you buy a car, you've got to show you've got a place—off public streets—to warehouse it.

Of course, people being people, many find ways around this! Light "kei" cars, which can actually be pretty big, can be sold w/out the proof-of-parking permit. (Technically, they still can't be parked on-street.) Others may have come to "arrangements" with local authorities.

The parking laws lead to some interesting arrangements; cars squeezed into tiny garages (how do you open the door to get out?); car elevators; multi-storey lots where cars are stacked like battery hens.

𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚎 🚇

In the three neighborhoods I spent time in over a decade, though, the streets were refreshingly free of on-street parked cars—certainly compared to North America, where streets become warehouses for private cars. That makes the streets of many areas a paradise for children...and cats.