Under generic minimum parking requirements, Circle Centre would have needed about 6,000 parking spaces. By using shared parking, the project was built with just 2,815 spaces. Shared parking for Circle Centre is used for both customers and employees. The mixed use nature of the development project allows customers to use a single parking space for multiple destinations within the complex. Employees can use nearby off-site parking, particularly in evenings and on weekends when more than 12,000 nearby off-site spaces that normally serve downtown office workers become available. Taking these two shared parking components into account decreases the estimated need for on-site parking by more than 50 percent. (Source: Smith, Mary S. September 1996. "Circle Centre: How Parking Helped Make. Urban Retail/Entertainment Development Work.")

In 2000, Governor Pataki created the Quality Communities Iteragency Task Force, which recommended in 2001, that the state "adopt [the following set] of uniform Quality Communities Principals:"

1. Revitalize our Downtown and City Cores
2. Promote Agriculture and Farmland Protection
3. Conserve Open Space and Other Critical Environmental Resources
4. Enhance Transporation Choices and Encourage More Liveable Neighborhoods
5. Encourage Sustainable Development
6. Strengthen Intergovernmental Partnerships, and Help Create, Implement and Sustain the Vision of a Quality Community

~ State and Local Governments: Partnering for a Better New York

The 40 goals [of Vision 2000] that [Chattanoogo, Tennesse] set for their community were a challenging and eclectic mix, including:

• Create a positive image for the city.
• Revitalize the downtown.
• Implement a comprehensive plan to alleviate substandard housing.
• Provide shelter for abused spouses and children.
• Raise the community's expectations for public education.
• Promote public forums and intercultural exchanges.
• Restore the Tivoli Theater.
• Develop more urban parks.
• Design a new government structure for the city to encourage better representation.
• Develop a comprehensive approach to resource management.

In 1996, (the latest year for which complete comparable data is available) the study estimates that a family with one car living 50 kilometers outside downtown Toronto, spent $1,600 more a year on travel. For households with two vehicles — the norm for most suburban families — the annual cost rises to about $5,800 more. The same house in the suburbs would cost about $1,100 a year more in mortgage, property taxes, utilities and maintenance to run than a similarly valued home downtown.~ Toronto Star :: Life in suburbia has hidden costs