Enreiched neighborhood

In Sweden, we have more parking lots than people and more parking space than living space per person. At the same time, privately owned cars stand still more than 96 percent of the time. Many of our residential areas are planned for cars, with large areas for traffic and parking. In this project, we investigate how we can reduce car use and use the land more efficiently.

Together with Nyréns Arkitektkontor and Trivector Traffic, RISE has made case studies in four car-dominated residential areas and studied how city types from the 1950s-70s can be transformed with the help of new mobility solutions that make space for more housing, more greenery and a better living environment. KTH, Stockholm's municipality traffic administration and several housing companies and builders also participate in the project.

Today, various types of mobility solutions are successfully tested in more and more new housing projects, with services such as car pools, bike pools, loan bikes and delivery lockers. In many cases, it is possible to get down to very low  numbers of parkinglots. New buildings, however, only constitutes two percent of the housing market. The great potential for conversion through mobility solutions is found in the existing housing stock.

The project's case studies show that at least 20 percent of the parking space in the studied areas can be removed already now, with simple methods that make today's parking more efficient. With more comprehensive changes, significantly more parking space can be free for other use. The project describes how each area can be enriched with qualities such as more housing and premises, better housing estates, more trees and greenery, more space for bicycle parking and mobility services and safer, more child-friendly streets and places.

Despite great potential, the transition is currently slow. The project states that there are few legal obstacles to converting parkinglots, but knowledge, experience and practice are often lacking. Some key issues identified in the project are:

• Need for knowledge and guidelines for conversion of parking space and management of requirements for replacement parking
• The importance of coordination between parking regulation and pricing on parking in public verses private space
• Solutions at district level, with joint mobility houses for parking and mobility makes more space, provide a greater range of services, less climate impact, greater flexibility over time and a greater opportunity to get the calculation for new homes together
• No actor has sole control of managing change. There is a joint responsibility and need for cooperation between the municipality, property owners and housing operators
• The parking issue is often politically sensitive and affects people's everyday lives. It is important to take concerns seriously and ensure that perceived deterioration is clearly linked to improvements such as more greenery, better housing estates, safer and more child-friendly environments, new public places and greater access to mobility services.

There is much to gain from an enreiched neighbourhod