in Memoriam
In Memoriam: Donald Shoup, FAICP
The planning world has lost an inspiring individual who helped rethink long-standing parking policies that negatively impacted our cities.
Donald Shoup, FAICP, planning professor and advocate for rethinking parking policies passed on February 7, 2025. Shoup was instrumental in redefining the relationship between transportation and land use. He was a vocal advocate for zoning reform, calling for eliminating minimum parking requirements.
In his 2005 book, The High Cost of Free Parking, he sparked a national discussion by explaining that there was no such thing as free parking. In his more than 700-page book, he explained how better parking policies can improve cities, the economy, and the environment. His work helped cities around the country reevaluate their parking policies.
"We've had our priorities the wrong way around. We have free parking for cars and expensive housing for people. That's not the way to make a successful, sustainable city." — Donald Shoup, FAICP.
In a People Behind the Plans podcast episode, Shoup confessed that no one probably thought more about parking than he did. Fans of his work were even dubbed themselves "Shoupistas."
A Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, Shoup helped inspire generations of planners to make our cities better and healthier. In 2015, he was honored by APA as a Planning Pioneer.
Shoup succeeded in taking the parking conversation and the negative impacts beyond the planning profession and into popular culture — captured in animation on the show Adam Ruins Everything.
APA joins the planning community in grieving the "death of a legend" and reflecting on his impact.