Anyone who has had the displeasure of finding a parking spot in a major city knows it can take a very long time to strike gold. Los Angeles residents sacrifice more than 80 hours a year hunting for a place to leave their cars and from London to Frankfurt, the situation in other urban centers is not much better.

Though they're individually tiny, parking spots quietly play a dominant role in shaping urban landscapes. Most US cities dedicate at least 25% of their developable land to them. Some, even more.

That land usage not only determines the way a city looks; it also means covering large swathes of urban areas in heat-absorbing asphalt, which contributes to making summers hotter and heightens the risk of flooding since it prevents drainage during storms and heavy rainfall.

Some municipal officials are now beginning to rethink parking's priority status — and what it means for how people get around.

Vienna is taking a firm stance

Long renowned among residents for slow-crawling traffic and infuriating parking hunts, the Austrian capital of Vienna is taking an unusual approach to solving the problem. Far from adding new lots, it is removing on-street parking.

The idea is to break up concrete, not only to cool things off in summer but to encourage alternative transit options.

With more than 350 projects focused on converting asphalt into green and public spaces, the city is removing a lot of parking, even in the central Neuer Markt. Located next to some of the biggest tourist attractions, it was once characterized by rows of parking spaces. Now the square has been pedestrianized and filled with trees and seating for locals and visitors.

And one of Vienna's central arteries has been converted into a "Dutch-inspired" cycling street, where 140 parking spots have made way for 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) of bike lanes and plant life. 

These more sweeping remodeling efforts have also paved the way for "neighborhood oasis" projects that enable groups of residents to petition district governments to convert individual parking spots. This makes space for community gardens, outdoor dining areas, and children's play spaces.

And there's been another big change: no more free parking, anywhere. In 2022 Vienna introduced a city-wide parking management system, meaning all street parking is subject to payment, and for non-residents to a two-hour limit.

Why it works in Vienna

While these shifts haven't made parking in the center of Vienna a pleasant experience, the city has still ensured that drivers have options. It's set up several "park and rides" for commuters — large parking garages with cheap all-day parking connected directly to mass transit, which is also affordable, well-connected and fast.

Ensuring residents can still get around is vital to winning public support for these shifts. 

"We have to take people on board," Ina Homeier, a planner at Vienna's Department of Urban Planning and Development, told DW. "We have to ask: how do you want your neighborhood? Do you want it to be filled with cars and without any trees, or do you want something different?" she said.

Expanding paid parking zones brings in €180 million ($209 million) annually, which the city puts directly into cycling infrastructure to encourage alternative mobility. Vienna's green urban agenda has seen residents using cars 37% less than they did in the 1990s.

And though polling indicates that more than two-thirds of the city's residents favor reducing parking and establishing additional green spaces, she believes more people need to be won over.

"There's been very complicated politics around taking back some of the space we've accorded the automobile, because for people who drive — and many people have no choice but to do so — it's considered an attack on their livelihoods and the way they get around," said Henry Grabar, author of "Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World".

This is especially true in car-crazy America, where 92% of households own at least one car. There, drivers are an important political and social group, swaying local policies and city planning, which makes Vienna-like reform a challenge.

Other cities are trying it too

This hasn't stopped many US cities from trying. Dallas, Texas, recently converted a sprawling downtown parking lot into a 3.7-acre public park and cities such as New York and San Francisco have experimented with making pandemic-era transformations that saw parking spots converted into on-street pop-up seating for restaurants into permanent fixtures.

Meanwhile, increasing street parking prices can both reduce demand and raise revenue. "There are lots of cities that are starting to realize the opportunity that parking offers for cities that have relatively limited budgets," Dana Yanocha, a researcher at the Washington, DC-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, told DW.

"Streets are essentially one of the most valuable assets cities have," she continued.

She also noted that other major US cities like San Jose in California and Austin in Texas are beginning to eliminate municipal zoning requirements that demand all new construction include a minimum number of parking lots. This frees up developers to dedicate more space to housing or other amenities and also helps to shift expectations around urban car use.

But ultimately, Homeier says changing mindsets is all about ensuring choice. "You cannot reduce anything without offering a good alternative. That's true in general, but especially for cars, which many people feel they have a right to have. You need to offer a cheap and better alternative."

Edited by: Tamsin Walker