Rising land costs and changing consumer behaviors have conspired against “over-parking” at retail venues. One developer is bucking the trend.

The city will leave it up to businesses to decide how many parking spaces they need in two center-city neighborhoods.

Houston is probably not destined to be among the world’s most walkable cities. Between the mind-melting heat, the ankle-breaking sidewalks, the criss-crossing freeways and the seemingly endless sprawl, getting around by foot isn’t easy to do. Still, there’s no reason to succumb to nihilism. So I welcomed the Houston City Council’s vote last week expanding the city’s “market-based parking area” to cover parts of Midtown, Montrose and East Downtown, as well as downtown’s Central Business District. It’s a relatively modest reform, to be clear. The change will exempt some new developments in th...