Shared Parking Model

Our Shared Parking Model helps you use existing parking resources more efficiently, saving you money while creating more vibrant districts and developments.

Many zoning ordinances require a dedicated parking supply for developments, resulting in an abundance of underutilized parking on valuable developable land. Nelson\Nygaard’s comprehensive parking studies and research have revealed actual parking demand is more often than not substantially lower than required by zoning or predicted by traditional models. Particularly in mixed-use and downtown environments, the "sharing" of parking spaces between various uses occurs naturally or by regulation, thereby reducing the total number of spaces needed compared to the same uses in stand-alone developments. Therefore, much of the required provided parking goes unused, and offers an opportunity to dedicate valuable land to better uses.

To more accurately estimate parking demand in mixed-use environments, Nelson\Nygaard constantly updates and refines a Shared Parking Model that uses data and research from the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE) Parking Generation guidebook, and Nelson\Nygaard's research, field work, and expertise. The model integrates data from literature such as Donald Shoup’s The High Cost of Free Parking to more accurately model parking demand in mixed-use environments, plus each model is adjusted and tailored to the specific area's context and land uses. The model is also able to quantify the opportunity to build infill or new types of development, based on land use types, to most efficiently utilize parking resources.

In downtowns and for development projections of all scopes and sizes around the country, the Model has more accurately predicted actual parking demand than traditional national models. This work helps save developers money, use existing parking resources more efficiently, and create livable communities through better use of valuable land in downtowns.