they destroy economic potential of cities by wasting land that could have been used more economically productively. parking lots are a great example of this since they don t employ anyone make any profits but they re needed in a car centric city so that we have a place to park them. same goes for apartmen/condo parking garages single family driveways. these accomodations for cars cost a lot of money to build new housing commercial space for developers contribute to high cost of housing as well as lost profitability economic productivity. as well interstate freeways in us tore apart productive urban downtowns left them with nothing but parking lots a few run down skyscrapers thrown in for good measure. highways aren t profitable aren t economically productive uses of land either. people like to joke that cyclists walkers transit riders hurt economy but in reality is car centric policies that hurt economy.