Not according to urban planning experts!
Australian cities have an abundance of affordable, subsidised and often free homes – but only for cars.
Parking is a poor use of valuable public land in Australian cities. Most parking is free or heavily-subsidized. Planning codes have ensured that developments provide abundant parking ever since the private car began to invade urban areas. This keeps property prices high. Housing is more expensive. And better uses of valuable kerbside land – such as places to sit, walk or ride – are overlooked.
But what is the impact of excessive free parking in our high streets and town centres?
At the recent People, Places and Parking webinar, two leading urban planners weighed in on the great parking debate. Perspectives came from both sides of the ‘ditch’ but the themes are common to both Australia and New Zealand.
It is clear that decades of accommodating the ultimate wish of drivers – a ‘rock star’ parking space outside their destination – has not helped many of our towns to thrive.
Car mania clogs Mullumbimby, a small town which is now attracting a lot of tourists. But the main street is jammed with parked vehicles, reducing amenity and ruining the sociable vibe that residents and visitors hope to find. (Image: Aslan Shand / Byron Echo)
Bicycle NSW volunteer Monique Ewen has shared her favourite insights from the talk.
Easy parking doesn’t make better places
Steven Burgess is a director at Complete Streets in Tasmania. He works to deliver more human-centric villages, towns and cities through contemporary street design. Scott Ebbett, who leads parking strategy at MRCagney in Auckland, recently hosted Steven for a tour of 10 towns across New Zealand with Waka Kotahi, the NZ Transport Agency.
Steven argues that pushing cars out of the town centre makes economic sense, as it frees up space for business, as well as landscaping, trees and seating. When a place becomes nicer, people spend more time there. And spending more time equals spending more money.
Taupo’s lakefront has undergone a huge transformation to help bring vibrancy back to the town centre. People are flocking in to enjoy new public spaces with far fewer cars. This was one of Steven’s favourite places in New Zealand! (Image: Taupo District Council)
Yet despite the evidence to back this up, it is difficult for people to understand why less parking might improve a town centre.
“People have fallen in love with the convenience,” says Steven. “People want to drive into town for a quick, single-purpose trip. They get frustrated when they can’t park close to where they want to go.”
Steven is a master of explaining in simple terms why need to stop worrying about maximising parking in our town centres.
“We have turned our town centres into convenience centres where it is just people driving in and out,” he says. “If there is convenient parking, people will drive the four blocks to their next stop, rather than walking.”
The town and its businesses then miss out on valuable opportunities to have people walking past those storefronts.
“As a community it costs us so much to provide the road space and parking to deliver those cars downtown,” Steven says. “If all we get out of it is a four-dollar cup of coffee, or I pick up my dry cleaning, or I just race in and grab a script from the chemist, there is little benefit to the town. The whole community is shortchanged from those quick transactions.”
“People don’t spend money when they are in their cars,” says Steven. “Walking is the highest money generator in your city. Parking is the lowest.”
Check out this great 20-minute video where Steven clearly sets out why too much parking can be a bad thing.
Before and after images from Taupo. The lakefront views were marred by too many parked cars and the park was cut off from the waterfront by the busy State Highway 1. The through traffic has been rerouted and surface parking reclaimed to return public space to higher value uses. (Images: Google Streetview 2019 and 2024)
The shopping mall analogy
Steven’s mantra for local decision makers is stick, stop, stay, spend and smile.
“We need to get people out of their cars sooner, and get them walking further,” says Steven. “They will meet friends and get to know all the businesses. We need to not let them back into their cars again until they’ve met everybody, said hello to every shopkeeper and their wallet is empty!”
Rundle Street in Adelaide’s East End prioritises access for people not cars – and reaps the rewards.
(Image: SouthAustralia.com)
This logic governs indoor shopping centres, which are designed to make people walk past as many shops as possible and buy more. The private sector is good at maximising spend!
“The large shopping centres with their worldwide shareholders are already on to this. They don’t let cars come anywhere near their shopfronts,” explains Steven. “They make you park miles away and walk to a car-free environment, where you spend a lot of time. Nobody just runs in and gets a packet of gum or the newspaper. You’re invested in the trip, you end up staying for a long time, and therefore spend more money.”
The best places have a parking problem
Think of the places that are really loveable – the centre of old European cities, Salamanca in Hobart, Potts Point in Sydney. It’s a nightmare to find a parking spot, and when you do, it’ll be expensive. Or you might opt to park 6 blocks away and walk. Or catch a bus! But it’s worth it because the destination is exciting and vibrant.
Steven is concerned by the trend for councils to put in more parking and make parking free in an attempt to lure people into the town centre.
Instead, councils should spend the money to curate a beautiful environment that gets people to walk past as many shops as possible. “Make a rich, irresistible place that people want to enjoy. Not a wide, open, grey street with blank walls and no interaction.”
On-street parking clogs up public space and leads to roads that are inhospitable for pedestrians. It fills the air with pollution from car exhausts, bad smells and noise from car engines and tyres on the road. All of which makes the town less enjoyable.
“Oversupply of free or almost-free parking harms town centres,” Steven says. “People should be happy to pay for parking because your town centre is such a fantastic and attractive place to be.”
Steven Burgess and Scott Ebbett in conversation during the People, Places and Parking webinar, 14th March 2024 (Image: MRCagney)
The high cost of free parking is under the spotlight
The problems caused by excessive car parking are finally getting some airtime in mainstream media. This is partly thanks to the great advocacy work of Melbournian David Mepham, who recently published a book called Rethinking Parking. David believes blindness to parking – where “we only see it when we need it as a driver” – means people don’t realise the opportunity cost to amenity, active and public transport, housing affordability, traffic congestion and air quality.
The original guru of all things parking is Donald Shoup. He published The High Cost of Free Parking nearly 20 years ago. The book has been incredibly influential but it's a long read. Henry Grabar wrote the more accessible Paved Paradise last year. For a great interview with Henry, head here.
And debate rages following the recent Paris vote to impose much higher parking fees on the most polluting cars. Councils in both Sydney and Melbourne have been inspired to look at options for reducing the negative impact of oversized cars in urban areas.
Watch this space!
Want to see more loveable and liveable town centres?
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