Measuring preferences for parking facilities in old residential areas

One of the problems in restructuring old residential areas in European cities is parking. The narrow streets and lack of open spaces challenge city planners to find solutions to this problem. Insight in preferences regarding possible parking solutions may facilitate the development of restructure plans. This paper reports about a case study in a Dutch post-WWII residential area. A stated preference experiment was conducted by using four variables: 1) being able to see the car from inside the home, 2) walking distance from home to car park, 3) motorized traffic in the residential street, and 4) security. Alternative solutions to the parking problem were presented to the inhabitants by means of a street map and a view from inside the house. Approximately 160 inhabitants responded to the survey. Analyses showed that ‘motorized traffic’ and ‘security’ are of greater importance to the inhabitants than ‘walking distance’ and ‘view on the car’.