Parking policy is usually not properly integrated in sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs). Now, the EU-funded Horizon 2020 project Park4SUMP is setting out to change this policy mindset, according to a statement from the European Commission. Working with 16 cities across Europe, the project has developed best practices in the field of parking management, including communicating clearly about parking management measures and ensuring that revenues from parking fees and fines are invested in sustainable urban mobility. The project received just over 3.5 million euros in funding from the EU.
Throughout the project from September 2018 until August 2022, the participating cities shared and implemented Park4SUMP’s best practices. All 16 cities improved their parking policies and established parking management as central to their SUMPs, writes the statement. Within the project, some 55,000 new parking places were regulated, with 3,239 parking spots successfully reallocated for other use. Reducing subsidies for parking spaces, while charging for existing parking in the form of fees or fines, also helped to generate income for municipalities, according to project coordinator Patrick Auwerx from Mobiel 21in Belgium. “This is what we call the earmarking principle,” he explained, giving the example of Krakow, which reinvested such income into sustainable mobility options.
According to the statement, the participating cities are still putting into practice many of the Park4SUMP findings. Insights are now being shared across Europe, particularly thanks to Park4SUMP’s ParkPAD audit tool. This enables municipalities to bring in a national auditor to assess current parking management policies and practices. A total of 22 European cities have already carried out a ParkPAD audit. However, the Park4SUMP project estimates that 15 to 20 per cent of smaller and medium-sized European cities still have no regulated parking in place. “The hope is that by encouraging the better integration of managed parking into SUMPs, citizens will begin to see noticeable improvements in their urban environment,” concludes the statement.
