Urban news and views from the past week:

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  Got Parking? Hell Yeah: The first nationwide count of parking spaces demonstrates their high environmental cost. Shocking statistic: there are at least 500 million empty spaces in the United States at any given time. (Physics Central via My Wheels are Turning)

• Walk Places, Meet People, and Build Social Capital: People who live in walkable communities are more civically involved and have greater levels of trust than those who live in less walkable neighborhoods. (Science Daily)

• The Future of Urban Sustainable Mobility: Go Beyond the Car: The future of the world’s cities is not the car. (The City Fix via Sustainable Cities Collective)

• Why Big Cities Matter More than Ever: Why cities have lost none of their powers of attraction, despite the new freedom that information technology brings people and firms? (City Journal)

• Housing Gen Y: The Next Challenge for Cities: Any city or metropolitan region that cannot provide affordable, walkable, and attractive neighborhoods in which Generation Y can afford to live will simply lose the best of them to those regions that have such neighborhoods. (Urban Land)