Planner and journalist Henry Grabar explains why bad parking drives us batty and ruins the world

In this searching interview, award-winning journalist Henry Grabar digs deep into the paradox of parking: We all want it, but we ignore the costs. The pursuit of the perfect parking space, he finds, worsens traffic, increases housing costs, hurts small businesses, endangers pedestrians, destroys wetlands, accelerates global warming, and, on a day-to-day basis, drives us to distraction. So what can be done? Based on extensive reporting and research, Grabar argues that smarter policy can make our cities more vibrant, just, and sustainable, one converted parking space at a time. 

Interviewer Kathleen Rooney is transportation policy lead at the Ulupono Initiative, a Hawaii-based investment impact firm. 

Henry Grabar is a journalist, researcher, Harvard Loeb Fellow, and author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.

Sound editing by Leandro Nuckols.

The Better Tomorrow Speaker Series features incisive conversations on the most pressing issues of our time. The project is a joint venture of the University of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Community Foundation, and Kamehameha Schools.

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