The parking mirage between ZTL, multi-storey car parks and parking bans

"The minimum parking space allocation in Italia is regulated by specific sector laws ascribable to the broader area of town planning regulations - Marco Piras, architect and town planner, begins -. The first general legislative reference establishes the obligation to reserve, for new buildings and their appurtenances, parking spaces no smaller than at least 1 square metre for every 10 cubic metres of construction.

This obligation was later specified and extended by the 1989 standard regulating appurtenant parking spaces, minimum requirements and implementation methods in built-up areas and new developments.

"At the same time," he argues, "the urban standards set by ministerial decrees and transposed into regional regulations and general regulatory plans establish quantitative allocations of collective spaces, including public parking areas, in relation to inhabitants and homogeneous territorial zones.

Then there is the practical case of Italian cities, 'characterised by a very high number of historic centres, often of medieval origin, multi-layered and with a high building density'.

Areas protected by the 'Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code and subject to regulations of a highly conservative nature that make it particularly difficult to implement urban transformation initiatives aimed at the identification of parking areas'.

"Often the orientation is to qualify part of the urban voids," Piras further argues, "(the result of past demolitions or the legacy of World War II bombings) by identifying areas in these areas for parking.

According to the expert, the new rule does not seem to be sufficient to guarantee adequate space. Not least because 'regional and local regulations provide for the possibility of paying a sum of money to municipalities in lieu of the identification of parking space if it is proven to be impossible to find such space.

The possibility of resorting to the institution of 'monetisation' of parking spaces has been abused at times over the decades, even in conditions where parking spaces could be guaranteed, further exacerbating the shortage of dedicated space.

With the result that today in Italia there is no structured and homogeneous way of dealing with the problem.

"One of the orientations of large and medium-sized municipalities is to disincentivise car use in urban areas, promoting alternative forms of mobility such as cycle paths, buses and the metro, or making it more expensive and complex to find low-cost parking spaces in the city centre," concludes the architect. Such initiatives, often promoted by progressive administrations, are not unanimously shared and are opposed by conservative administrations that, considering the use of the car an inalienable right, promote policies of traditional carriageways and the increase of areas to be allocated to parking, also through the construction, where possible, of multi-storey car parks'.

If in Italia the crux is the structural lack of parking spaces and uneven planning, in Greece - and particularly in the metropolitan area of Athens - the problem takes on even more extreme dimensions, between the growth of the car fleet, widespread tolerance of irregular parking, and parking space prices that are now comparable to those of a luxury property.

In 2023 the Attica region ranked fourth among European regions in terms of the number of cars per thousand inhabitants: 872 cars against an EU average of 550, an increase of 231% since 1990. This figure is a snapshot of an entrenched car culture that is difficult to change, while many European cities are progressively reducing car access to urban centres, encouraging soft mobility, pedestrianisation and public transport.

"We have not created sufficient parking spaces in small urban lots nor developed underground parking spaces adequately, especially in Athens. Today we are paying the price,' observes Konstantinos Kepaptoglou, professor of transport planning at the National Technical University of Athens.

The result is a vicious circle: tolerance of irregular parking actually generates new 'free parking spaces', fuelling the expectation of finding a space anyway.

The repercussions are also on road safety. The SOS Traffic Crimes association reports cars parked near intersections and stop signs - where the code would prohibit parking within 12 metres - causing visibility problems and increasing the risk of accidents.

The occupation of pavements also causes damage to infrastructure and restricts the mobility of pedestrians, people with disabilities and families with pushchairs.

In this context of chronic shortage, the private parking space has become a real investment asset. According to the real estate network E-Real Estates, in the Attica area, prices have risen by 50% to 90% compared to the pre-pandemic period.

In neighbourhoods such as Kypseli a parking space can cost between 18 thousand and 22 thousand euro (compared to around 10 thousand before Covid), while in premium areas such as Kolonaki or in the centre of Kifissia, transactions in excess of 300-400 thousand euro are recorded: figures that, while not representing the market average, show how scarcity turns parking into a luxury urban asset.

Local administrations are trying to run for cover. The Municipality of Athens has reopened the municipal car park in Kotzia Square (more than 500 spaces, plus 200 spaces), is preparing a new underground car park of around 120 spaces near Larissa station, and is considering the recovery of garages that are currently closed or inoperative, with the potential for an additional 300 spaces.

Also under consideration is an app to report vacancies in non-regulated parking areas in real time, and a municipal transport system interoperable with the metro, to reduce private car use in the centre.

The Greek case confirms a dynamic common to many European cities: indiscriminately increasing the parking supply does not solve the problem if the number of cars grows at the same time.

The leverage, in addition to infrastructure, is cultural and managerial: rotation of parking spaces, strict controls, integration with public transport and, above all, a different conception of urban space.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project "Pulse"