Originally Posted by
Bham1982
Exactly right.
There is something of a modest revival in urban living in the U.S., but it is still auto-oriented urban living. Excepting NYC, almost nothing gets built anywhere without plenty of parking.
You cannot build a single unit of housing in Chicago, even in the middle of downtown, without at least 1:1 parking ratio. Want a 200 unit apartment building? Fine, but you're getting at least 200 additional parking spaces too. Want a single family house in an in-town neighborhood? Fine, but it will come with parking spaces, either accessed through front driveway or back alley.
So if you're building 100% auto-oriented in Chicago [[or at least auto-accomodated), you already know anything built in Detroit will be totally auto-oriented and suburban form.