How much space do we give to cars?

Traffic produces congestion, exhaust emissions and noise. These issues are the subject of daily debate, some of which is highly ideological. But it's not just moving traffic that burdens the quality of public space. Stationary vehicles have the same effect. Parked cars need a lot of space, and in built-up areas this costs a great deal of money. The infrastructure for parked vehicles (such as high-rise car parks) is expensive and gets in the way of building urgently needed affordable housing. In spite of this, legislators and the commissions that advise them shy away from deviating from the existing targets for the number of parking spaces per unit. Too great is the fear that reducing parking options could place an additional burden on municipalities and lead to conflict in the district and surrounding neighbourhoods. These contradictions are currently becoming more and more evident. Private transport is undergoing a process of transformation. We do not know how fast this transformation will take place or what specific form it will take. There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding planning as a result. At the same time, one thing is clear: The requirements for internal urban densification, the improvement of public spaces and climate and resource protection can only be met by dramatically curtailing private transport and by reusing grey energy. We also need to reorganise urban water management in response to climate change. There needs to be local buffers in place for severe rain events, and we must use rainwater for irrigation purposes and for cooling evaporation. We can rise to these challenges using new operating and management models - or by reimagining the typologies of urban infrastructures. On the following pages, we introduce a number of pioneering projects and discuss their impact and their prospects. The focus is on examples from the city of Zurich, where political debate around the place of cars in the city has been ongoing for more than 20 years. Some remarkably simple solutions show that it is possible to take a different approach to private car ownership in one of the world's richest cities. And in other cities too.