Implementing residential parking policy: “It is like foisting a new religion upon them”

The availability and price of residential parking are key determinants of car ownership and use. Residential parking reform can therefore significantly affect how people travel and thus contribute to sustainability transitions in urban mobility. Residential parking reforms have, however, proven difficult to implement. To address this problem, this paper analyzes the institutional conditions that influence residential parking policy formation and implementation. It does so through an exploratory case study of an ongoing, city-wide reform in Sweden. The analysis, which builds on interviews, observations, workshops, and a questionnaire, identifies multiple conditions at the inter-organizational, organizational, and intra-organizational levels that the people involved perceive as influencing the policy process. In terms of academic contributions, the findings deepen understanding of the challenges associated with implementing residential parking policies and show that regime lock-in within land-use planning, housing, and mobility can be a greater impediment to residential parking reform than resident opposition in the early phases of the policy process. The paper provides three recommendations for public officials overseeing residential parking reform: framing their task as organizational change and drawing inspiration from related frameworks; building legitimacy through incremental implementation; and monitoring and reporting reform-related outcomes through a public health benefits lens.