2.4 - Parking and land use management strategies

Introduction

This includes various management strategies that affect parking and land use.

Access management

Access management refers to coordination between roadway design and land use planning to improve transport. It includes the appropriate placement and design of driveways and side streets to minimise conflicts and hazards along arterials, and the design and location of development to improve access by different modes and minimize traffic problems. Access management can help increase mobility and safety for non-motorised travel, improve public transport service efficiency, and create more efficient land use.

Car-free planning

Car-free planning involves designing particular areas for minimal automobile use. Examples include:

• developing urban districts (such as a downtown or residential neighbourhoods) where private vehicle traffic is restricted. such restrictions can be part-time or full-time, and often include exceptions for delivery vehicles, taxis, and vehicles for people with disabilities
• housing developments where residents are provided with opportunities to lessen the need for private vehicle use
• pedestrian-oriented commercial streets where driving is discouraged or prohibited
• resorts and parks that encourage or require non-automotive access
• car-free days and car-free events
• temporary restrictions on driving, such as during a major sport event that would otherwise create excessive traffic problems.

Cycle parking

Cycle parking, storage and changing facilities are important ways to provide convenience and security for cyclists at destinations. Inadequate facilities and fear of theft are major deterrents to cycle transport. Effective cycle parking requires a properly designed rack in an appropriate location for the type of use.

Location efficient development

Location efficient development consists of residential and commercial development located and designed to maximise accessibility. This usually means that it is close to good public transport services and common destinations such as stores and schools, has good walking and cycling conditions and other features that are intended to reduce car dependency.

New community design

New community design (also called neo-traditional design or traditional neighbourhood development) is a set of development practices to create more attractive and efficient communities. It includes higher density, more clustered, infill development; greater consideration of pedestrians in roadway design; more mixed land use and housing types, increased emphasis on public spaces; and less land devoted to roads and parking facilities. These features can improve accessibility and reduce per-capita car travel.

Parking management

Parking management can help address a wide range of transport problems. Parking management includes various strategies that result in more efficient use of parking resources, such as:

• shared parking (multiple users sharing a parking facility)
• more accurate parking requirements
• allow reduced parking in exchange for TDM programmes
• cash out free parking
• separate parking from decisions on building purchases or leases (parking is sold or rented separately)
• address spillover problems resulting from restricted/priced parking
• develop overflow parking plans
• regulate parking facilities for efficiency
• parking maximums
• allow in lieu fees as an alternative to in-site parking
• tax parking facilities or their use
• improved parking facility design.

Public transport oriented development

Public transport oriented development refers to residential and commercial areas designed to maximize access by public transport and non-motorised transport. A public transport oriented neighbourhood has a centre with a rail or bus station, surrounded by relatively high-density development, with progressively lower-density spreading outwards. For example, the neighbourhood centre may have a public transport station and a few multi-story commercial and residential buildings, surrounded by several blocks of townhouses and small-lot single-family residential housing, and larger-lot single-family housing farther away. Public transport oriented neighbourhoods typically have a diameter of 0.4 to 0.8 km (stations spaced 0.8 to 1.6 km apart), which represents pedestrian scale distances.

Smart growth

Smart growth is a general term for land use practices that create more resource efficient and liveable communities, with more accessible land use patterns that reduce the amount of mobility required to reach goods and services. Smart growth is an alternative to urban sprawl.