In London's fight for urban space, cars are about to lose some of their footing

London city hall has proposed drastically lowering the minimum number of automobile parking spaces required for all new developments, while at the same time raising requirements for bicycle parking, in the first major overhaul of city parking policy in three decades. 

The proposal would cut the number of vehicle parking spaces required for residential developments in half. It would also decrease the amount of parking needed for retail and industrial developments by up to one-third to half, based on floor space and type of use.

At the same time, the city would expand the number of bicycle parking spaces required in all developments to a minimum of three spaces, plus additional spaces based on floor area and use. 

The overhaul is a major plank in the city's climate emergency action plan, which aims to reduce the number of car trips in the city, believed to be responsible for about half of the city's total carbon emissions. It also aims to reduce the sheer amount of physical space cars take up when they're not being used. 

"The current approach, where minimum parking standards are required, often leads to an oversupply of parking," said Isaac de Ceuster, a city planner in long-range planning and research for the City of London. 

"Large amounts of parking basically increases the distances between developments and requires more land and makes walking, cycling or using public transit harder." 

London's abundance of parking stands in sharp contrast to its undersupply of housing.

There are no specific numbers for the amount of automobiles registered in London, but Ontario is one of the most car-obsessed places in the country, according to Statistics Canada. 

In 2019, the province had more than a third of the nation's registered vehicles – at 12.5 million, vehicles outnumbered the number the amount of people who could drive them. That year, Ontario only had about 12 million adults. 

All of those vehicles need space, often putting them into a direct, but largely silent conflict with people, who also need a place to park themselves, especially in high density areas.

"Excessive amounts of parking increase the cost and reduce the viability of housing development in our city, which is of course, very important in light of the affordability crisis," de Ceuster said. 

To get an idea of just how much space parking takes up in this city, consider the fact one parking space is about 30 square metres, or two-thirds the size of an average 45-square metre studio apartment. One hundred parking spaces could fill half a football field, space for a couple of houses and a yard, or even a small apartment building. 

"That's a significant amount of space that we use for parking," he said.

In other words, London has grown into a sprawling city of car-friendly strip malls, office parks and suburbanite neighbourhoods because it's the easiest way for developers to comply with regulations.