Three paradigms in parking policy and their relevance to Australian cities

Abstract

An upsurge of innovation has been widening policy horizons at this intersection between urban and transport planning. This paper explores the relevance for Australian cities of recent key contributions to the debate internationally. It reviews parking policy literature in terms of three contrasting paradigms: the conventional supply-focused approach which employs parking requirements as its main tool; 'parking management' which involves an effort to balance multiple planning objectives in managing parking, especially in congested locations where the conventional approach is ill suited; and a market-oriented one which seeks to have market processes reveal and provide the 'right' amount of parking via efficient pricing of on-street parking and through supply deregulation for off-street parking. North American literature on parking has recently centred on two challenges to the status quo, which aim to either: 1) expand and extend the use of parking management or 2) introduce a market-oriented approach. The paper then assesses the status quo on parking in Australia, using the same three-way framework, assessing the relevance of international critiques of contemporary parking policy. Finally, it considers whether the two main challenges to status quo parking policy are as relevant for Australian metropolitan areas as their proponents argue they are for the United States.