The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) released a report that highlights the momentum behind off-street parking reforms worldwide.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, September 13, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Building on the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy’s global expertise on parking reform, a new report from the organization spotlights challenges and opportunities for cities to reshape outdated off-street parking policies. Off-street parking is a costly and often overlooked area of urban planning that impacts vehicle usage, greenhouse gas emissions, public space, and housing availability, and this report calls for greater policy attention on the issue.

ITDP released its report, Breaking the Code: Off-Street Parking Reform, to highlight the growing momentum behind off-street parking reforms in cities and countries worldwide and to share important lessons and guidance from existing efforts. The movement amongst many cities, urban planners, and climate advocates supports parking reform as a key lever for reallocating valuable city space, reducing demand for driving, lowering transport-related emissions, and improving urban quality of life.

Public, available space in cities is a valuable and often finite resource. There is only so much of it, and many important uses compete for it: housing, retail, services, utilities, public and private transport, nature, recreation, and beyond. How cities choose to allocate space among these uses underscores what cities look like and how it feels to live and move in them. However, in many cities, one-third or more of the land is allocated to storing parked vehicles. Thus, parking reform is gaining popularity around the world to bring the supply of parking — especially off-street parking — closer to actual demand as a means to create more compact cities, reduce emissions, and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In particular, cities (and higher-level jurisdictions, like national governments) are realizing that decades of inefficient parking mandates and minimums have been costly for their cities in terms of the environment, housing, green space, and more. Removing these mandates is a critical first step towards the efficient, productive use of every city’s valuable public space. Doing so even tends to garner support from developers, whose costs can be reduced when requirements to provide a minimum amount of parking spaces are removed. Rethinking the supply of off-street parking does not mean eliminating parking, but rather ensuring that city space is used most efficiently, equitably, and sustainably.

The report studies the cases of six cities and one country — Atlanta, GA, USA; Beijing, China; Mexico City, Mexico; Minneapolis, MN, USA; San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico; São Paulo, Brazil; and the country of New Zealand — in their diverse journeys to reform off-street parking, with a particular emphasis on removing parking minimums and adopting complementary reforms that disincentivize car trips. The primary lessons offered by the report identify key strategies for removing (or reducing) parking minimums; leveraging political will at the right levels of government; communicating plans for reforms to the public; collecting data to strengthen actions; packaging reforms alongside complementary policies; and linking reforms to
specific, achievable outcomes.

With this document, ITDP aims to identify, evaluate, and share crucial lessons based on these case studies to offer a foundation of best practices for more policymakers, planners, and advocates seeking to implement similar actions in their regions. ITDP’s global offices have worked on parking reform campaigns worldwide, and continue to advance research, policy guidance, and projects that prioritize the equitable, sustainable use of space in cities for the benefit of communities and the climate.

Access the report and related resources here.

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The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy is a global nonprofit that works with cities around the world to design and implement high-quality transport systems and policy solutions that make cities more livable, equitable, and sustainable.

Alphonse Tam
ITDP
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