New Strategies for the Reduction of Shopping Centers Generated Car Trips — Theory and Experiences

The relation between urban life and commerce has always been ambivalent. Technical norms and guidelines of the 1970s and 1980s provided an indication of the minimum number of parking places that need to be provided in connection with the construction of a new commercial center. Later on it became clear that it was not sufficient just to provide cars with a place to park, it was also necessary to provide them with adequate facilities to arrive and to leave. In recent years interesting programs to try and resolve the problems have been started in the city of Zurich. The innovative ‘‘trip model’’ moves the focus to the factors that are directly responsible for the disturbing emissions and binds building licenses to a certain number of emission generating car trips per year rather than to a determined number of parking lots.