Breathing space – smart parking policies improve the lives of EU city dwellers

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Researchers have installed smart parking lots that provide cleaner air, more greenery and more space to play for residents across Europe.
When the renovation of Piazza del Popol Josto is completed this December, residents of Reggio Emilia will be able to stroll through the tree-lined pedestrian square, which until recently was just a parking lot. The complete renovation of the 1,300 square meter square is part of the northern Italian city’s broader sustainable urban mobility plan and was supported by a team of researchers from 18 countries across Europe.
As part of a four-year collaboration called Park4SUMP, researchers worked together to bring similar benefits to cities across the continent. They were motivated by a shared belief that intelligent parking management is essential to making cities more attractive and safe for citizens.
sustainable mobility
Solving the urban parking problem that plagues most cities today is a key part of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), an EU-wide initiative aimed at benefiting the environment and residents. . Work is underway in Reggio Emilia to permanently change the layout of the square. Utilizing the research team’s know-how, the area has been progressed in stages, starting with partial pedestrianization and ending with a complete ban on car traffic.
“This is an important part of a comprehensive strategy to improve the quality of life in Reggio Emilia,” said Alberto Merigo, an engineer and mobility planner for the city of about 170,000 people.
The European Commission is encouraging local authorities to set up SUMPs across Europe to help tackle challenges such as traffic congestion, air pollution, noise pollution and road safety. The aim is to encourage new trends in mobility that help reduce the number of cars on the road, such as car-sharing schemes and the move away from personal car ownership.
The smart way to park smarter
One of the main contributions of this work was the development of a specific method for auditing municipal parking strategies called ParkPAD.
ParkPAD helps local governments better understand their situation and identify areas for improvement through online surveys, data analysis, and workshops taught by local auditors in local languages. We also make concrete proposals through action plans tailored to local needs.
With more than 20 years of experience working on sustainable transport projects, Patrick Owerks, Coordinator of Park4SUMP and Project Leader of Belgian sustainable mobility NGO Mobiel 21, has over 20 years of experience working on sustainable transport projects. He has supervised more than a dozen parking audits in towns and cities.
Auwerx says that while there are many long-term benefits, changing a city’s parking setup isn’t always easy.
“Parking is a very emotional subject in people’s minds. They seem to think that when they buy a car, they get a free parking space,” he says.
Politicians are reluctant to change parking regulations in favor of sustainable mobility for fear of voter reaction, Owerks acknowledged.
“Conversations with stakeholders and citizens about parking can be very difficult. We have provided data to streamline these discussions.”
The ParkPAD methodology played a key role, helping participating cities find a way forward and ensuring everyone agreed to implement the changes through consultation and public engagement.
change your parking habits
Rather than focusing on infrastructure, the researchers focused on parking behavior.
“Addressing parking infrastructure is an old way of thinking about parking policy,” Orwerks said. One of the researchers’ goals is to show how great roads can be when they have more space for people to pass instead of cars.
“Construction of new parking lots often means an oversupply of parking spaces, which naturally attracts more cars,” Orwerks said. “We wanted to break this cycle by putting in place push-and-pull measures that get people to think about whether they still need to use their own car or whether they can take public transport or cycle instead. It is.”
The positive knock-on effects of well-considered parking policies are significant and support the EU’s long-term climate change goals, such as the city mission to become 100 climate-neutral smart cities by 2030 and the broader European Green Deal. supporting.
Researchers predict that not only will cities be cleaner and safer, but housing prices will also fall because developers won’t have to factor in as many parking spaces.
Replacing highly insulated concrete and asphalt parking spaces with green spaces is also one of the best ways to combat high temperatures in cities, which have become an increasingly pressing issue in recent years due to climate change.
Spreading smart parking across Europe
The research team led by Orwerks worked with groups in 16 large and small cities across Europe, including Freiburg, Lisbon and Sofia in Germany, Trondheim in Norway and Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain. Since the project concluded in August 2022, the concept has been rolled out in more cities in Europe.
Participants were divided into ‘leading cities’, which have already implemented advanced parking strategies, and ‘learning cities’, which do not yet have formal parking plans. The sharing of information and best practices resulted in a positive experience for participants.
Back in Reggio Emilia, the gradual transformation of Piazza del Popol Josto continues, but already the quality of life in the neighborhood is improving, Merigo said.
“When this place is completed, it will be a really beautiful place, with rest areas, trees and fountains, and the restaurant will have a permanent space for its customers. Park4SUMP is an important part of the transformation of the plaza. “We hope it will spur similar improvements in other regions,” he said.
Horizon Provided by: EU Research & Innovation Magazine
This article was originally published in Horizon, EU Research and Innovation Magazine.
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