“Unparking”: How can Smart Mobility Reduce Parking Demand in Our Cities to the Minimum? (Beirut Case Study)

Abstract

Beirut is a car-dependent city, with 80% of Beirut citizens using their private cars to move across the city (the rate of car ownership is higher than regional and global benchmarks: 627 cars/1000 in Beirut, 550/1000 in Dubai and 170/1000 in Singapore). This reality causes two related impacts: an increased parking demand and decreased public transportation usage. Furthermore, in order to discuss these aspects, our study addresses the following question: How can the municipality’s interventions and mobility system reforms, such as smart public transportation systems and shareable mobility, reduce parking demand? As our methodology, it consists of three sections: (1) determine Beirut's parking problems by estimating parking demand and supply; (2) assess the potential effects of Beirut municipality policies in comparison to international experiences; and (3) evaluate the potential impacts of the smart public transportation system and shareable mobility in reducing parking demand. This paper studies parking growth in developing countries, such as Lebanon, and can help planners, decision-makers, and the Beirut municipality to make more informed decisions about parking policies, and to meet growing parking demand by introducing smart interventions that have high local potentials.