Shieh: Our Car-Centric Culture is Hurting New Yorkers

A RealClear Policy op-ed by Evan Shieh, M.S. AUD., assistant professor of architecture, argues that congestion pricing is an opportunity for New Yorkers to re-envision their city’s landscape. Shieh unpacks the hidden costs of the city’s car-centric culture, including valuable urban space lost to parking, the environmental toll of asphalt-paved streets, and other impacts on quality of life. Offering examples of successful congestion pricing outcomes in other cities, he contends that adopting similar policies in New York will allow residents to reimagine how the city’s spaces can be reclaimed for uses that prioritize people over cars.

“How we choose to move around our cities impacts their evolution. Congestion pricing provides yet another critical opportunity to disrupt the status quo and spark new social norms,” he writes. “It allows us to reconsider what our public spaces should look like and who should have the right to use them. New York City’s congestion toll may be an initial fiscal burden on those using cars to commute into the city. But the bias toward automobiles has exacted a far greater toll on the city’s residents for decades.”