Review of the effects of developments with low parking requirements

Panel: 6. Transport and mobility

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Frances Sprei, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Cecilia Hult, IVL
Åsa Hult, IVL
Anders Roth, IVL

Abstract

Parking management and planning can be used to address several issues related to sustainable urban development. E.g. parking availability affects both car ownership and usage, and parking planning can affect both land use and building costs. A tool, used in several countries is minimum parking requirements (MPR) and lowering these could be a pathway to more sustainable mobility. However, the actual effects of lower MPR have not systematically been studied.

In this paper we present the results of a review of twelve developments with low MPR in Sweden, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Existing research and reports have been analyzed to compare these and draw conclusions on the effect of MPR on mobility patterns and mobility services. In addition, interviews were made with representatives from municipalities and developers. Some of the key findings are:

• All of the studied projects have good prerequisites for sustainable mobility such as access to public transport, a central location, mobility services, bike paths and services.

• Results indicate that the mobility patterns of individuals in the studied projects are more sustainable than in nearby projects. However, the causality of MPR and mobility is hard to establish.

• Many projects combine MPR with mobility services such as car-sharing. For this to be successful, requirements for MPR and mobility services should be included in the planning permission.

• Legally binding contracts are needed to clarify responsibilities between developer, municipalities and mobility service suppliers.

• Swedish and European developments differ in posed requirements. Swedish projects only put requirements on parking and mobility services, whereas European ones put requirements on traffic or car ownership..

• It is important to look at a wider geographical area and not only the specific project. Parking availability and pricing in the surroundings might affect the outcome of a low MPR project.