Donald Shoup

Donald Shoup, distinguished professor emeritus of urban planning in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, is among the nation’s leading authorities on the link between transportation and land use, particularly regarding issues of public parking. His book, “The High Cost of Free Parking,” explains how better parking policies can improve cities, the economy and the environment. In the book Shoup recommends that cities should charge fair market prices for on-street parking, use the meter revenue to finance added public services in the metered neighborhoods, and remove off-street parking requirements.

With a background in both economics and engineering, Shoup’s research focuses on transportation and public finance with emphases on links to the real estate market. Shoup’s proposal to modify the way employers subsidize employee travel and parking was applied to California law and adopted by the Clinton Administration as a legislative goal toward addressing climate change. As a consultant to the World Bank, Shoup has worked on ways to finance public infrastructure in low-income neighborhoods.