From the Brilliant Ideas that will Never Work file: Designated parking-free
housing.

A lot of development of high-rise housing doesn't get off the ground because
the neighbourhood is concerned about where all those cars are going to be
parked. However, there are also a lot of people in the city who don't own a
car at all, and wouldn't mind living somewhere where parking is not
available.

Most residential buildings charge for parking separately - you don't use it,
you don't pay - but perhaps its time to go a step further and have
designated parking-free residences, and pay a modest financial incentive for
people to move into these places.

When you live in parking-free housing, you are not entitled to a spot in the
underground garage or on the street. However, if the building has a carshare
you are still allowed to use it. A whole building can be parking-free, or
there could be a certain number of parking-free units (they wouldn't
necessarily have to be the same units all the time, the residents could just
self-designate). People who choose to be parking-free can still own
vehicles, they just will not be entitled to a parking space in their
building or in reserved parking on the street.

Anyone who moves from a parking unit to a parking-free unit, or designates
themselves as parking-free in an eligible building, would get a one-time
financial incentive (maybe two or three months' housing costs, maybe a
year's worth of metropasses and taxi vouchers, maybe a guarantee that their
rent in the new building would not be higher than the cost of a comparable
apartment in the old building, plus reimbursement of any expenses associated
with moving). Perhaps there could be a large fee associated with switching
your status back to parking if you do so while living in an area that has
parking-free residences, or perhaps you might be required to pay back the
incentive.

The advantage would be that residents who do not require parking will be
identified, and the financial incentives would encourage them to move to
parking-free areas. I know that if someone paid me to move to a comparable
apartment in the same neighbourhood for the same rent, I would do so. Once
a significant mass of people who are willing to live car-free have been
identified, it will be easier to convince all parties involved to permit the
construction of a car-free highrise in a neighbourhood that can easily
accommodate 200 more people, but cannot handle 200 more cars.