Instead of free parking, our post-COVID CBDs need a big vision to become attractive destinations that aren't car-friendly at the expense of being people-friendly.
What does a future full of AVs mean for all the spaces reserved for downtown parking?
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The global trend is to free up valuable city space by reducing parking and promoting other forms of transport that don't clog roads and pollute the air. Australian cities are still putting cars first.
Taxis have traditionally competed for kerbside space in our cities, but they now have many new competitors.
Neil Sipe
Australian cities have a glut of parking, even as politicians move to protect parking spaces or promise even more. There are better ways to keep congestion manageable and our cities liveable.
With more than a million Australians using public transport to get to work each day, demand for car parking at the station is virtually insatiable.
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The Commuter Car Park Fund announced in the budget sounds big, but is likely to create only around 30,000 extra spaces – a marginal benefit for Australia's 1.2 million daily public transport users.
Nottingham sees the benefits.
Peter James Sampson/Shutterstock.
Many US cities are investing in bike infrastructure and shade trees. Properly located, these additions can make streets cooler, cleaner and safer for all users – even those who drive.
A parking attendant strolls through a rooftop car park in Melbourne.
Jay Miller/flickr
Looking back through all Melbourne's strategic plans from 1929 onwards, it becomes clear that the 20th-century legacy of car-centric planning and its focus on parking is still deeply entrenched.
We are told driverless cars will be much safer, because human error causes more than 90% of crashes.
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Many parklets are privately funded, but these projects often allow for more public participation than more traditional public spaces.
Lots of parking: the extraordinary amount of valuable land used to park cars in most cities could soon be freed up for other uses.
Antonio Gravante/Shutterstock
Cities around the world are starting to rethink the vast areas of land set aside for parking. The convergence of several trends likely will mean this space becomes available for other uses.
Customers who arrive on foot, by bicycle or by public transport contribute significantly more to the restaurant trade than the business owners realise.
Mik Scheper/flickr
A new study shows that restaurateurs would be better off advocating for better public transport access to their precincts rather than for more parking.
This Friday is the 11th PARKing Day, when people pay a parking meter, then turn the space into a pop-up parklet. It's a day that invites citizens to rethink the city and their place in it.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore gives car-sharing a try. By 2016, one in ten of the city’s households will have joined a car-share scheme.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
Owning a car can be a hassle, especially if you live somewhere where driving is an occasional, rather than daily, necessity. This might help to explain why car-sharing schemes are going from strength to…