street parking is a subsidy when viewed through a wider socioeconomic lens because it externalizes a cost onto society in both space and time. in this case, the

street parking is a subsidy when viewed through a wider socioeconomic lens because it externalizes a cost onto society in both space and time. in this case, there's a particularly high opportunity cost for that space, most obviously as livable area, but also for alternate modes of transportation (or simply recreational space). similarly, our setbacks and minimum right-of-ways are horrendously large. urban residential streets in LA (where i live) are often 40-50 feet wide curb-to-curb to account for parking on both sides. we're basically wasting not insubstantial bits of interstitial space everywhere in car-oriented cities like mine. but street parking can easily be unsubsidized/internalized by simply pricing all of it, even for municipalities themselves. perhaps then my dream of putting all parking underground would make as much economic sense as it does social sense. my area has a lot of long blocks, and i could totally envision cut-and-cover creating an underground alley right down the middle of the block with parking garages under the back yards of the houses. then you'd only need two cutouts for entry/access while also minimizing the amount of 'driveway' for each property. you could even run utility lines through that space as well.