Parking Regulations in Austria - Opportunity or Barrier for City Development?

Abstract

Vehicle parking consumes a lot of land, occupies valuable public space, contributes to urban sprawl and as a result has a negative impact on public transport and active mobility. While the origins of parking regulations in Germany and Austria have their roots in the past - the intention clearly was to support and expand individual motorized transport - discussions on this matter intensified in recent years in Austria. For this historic reason, up to today the regulations in almost all federal provinces of Austria define a minimum number of parking spaces that have to be built when constructing new buildings depending on the intended usage. Nowadays, this is quite contradictory to the results of mobility research which recommend the definition of maximum values. Furthermore, the recommendation also includes the demand for definition of those values with regard to regionally different spatial structures. In practice, all the regulations (except for Tyrol) define single minimum values for the whole area of the state. On the other hand, the regulations within the planning laws allow municipalities to adapt the values to their needs if required. As the needs and requirements are not adequately defined, several municipalities in Lower Austria commissioned a study to investigate the topic, do research on exiting regulations and practices in Austria and also in selected European countries. As a result, they asked for recommendations for aspects to be considered when defining values different from the defaults including appropriate justifications in order to support municipalities in their settlement development strategies with a special focus on residential buildings