ABSTRACT
Mexico City's off-street parking regulations were created following the not-so-rigorous process of copying other cities' parking requirements. Minimum parking requirements distorted transportation choices and urban design, and damaged the economy and the environment. These impacts can be divided in three main areas: economic, urban, and traffic. Because minimum parking requirements increase development costs, some developers chose to build where land is cheaper, usually at the city's periphery. Mexico City first regulated off-street parking more than 50 years ago, but it was not until 1973 that it required developers to provide parking for every land use in proportion to building characteristics, such as floor area, number of rooms, and number of dwelling units. In the late 1980s, the city enacted a building code that required parking only in proportion to floor space, repealing the option to consider other building characteristics when providing off-street parking.
