Parking Management for Smart Growth

This chapter demonstrates that progress requires more than code reforms and better pricing; it requires coordinated, comprehensive parking management. Parking management is the key to smart growth. Parking management uses a wide range of tools—parking sensors, pricing, regulations, and information systems—in an effort to use parking efficiently. Parking management shifts thinking about parking spaces from objects to services. While two parking spaces may have identical dimensions, one may seldom be used while the other serves many users and many trips per day. Parking management requires a strategic plan that goes beyond traditional planning for parking. Plans must call for policy makers to engage with multiple organizations. The best strategy for creating a managed, integrated, and financially sustainable parking district is to start with an appeal to broader community goals. As cities consider an economy that emphasizes use rather than ownership and services rather than facilities, many are innovating parking management.