More and more major European cities aim to redistribute public space to reduce car dependency and promote more sustainable modes of transport. Two key areas that have emerged as levers for this transformation are new parking regulations and the creation of school streets. A recent international webinar brought together urban planners, activists, and public officials from Paris and Budapest to share their approaches, successes, and challenges in these domains.

Reduction of on-street parking in Paris

Paris has been implementing a progressive transport policy for over two decades, with the clear intention of reducing the presence of cars in public spaces. Francis Pacaud, head of the Transport Department of Paris, said that the parking policy has played a central role in this strategy. The city has approximately 800,000 parking spaces, but only 17% of them are on-street. This low ratio is the result of a long-term approach to gradually relocate vehicles to off-street spaces and thus free up public space for other functions such as pedestrian areas, cycle lanes, green spaces, and other public amenities. Recent reforms have strengthened this direction: among others, a differentiated pricing structure based on vehicle size was introduced (the parking fees of large cars are three times higher than the parking fees of normal cars) after Paris residents had voted for it. Parking fees for motorcycles have been introduced, too.

The streets of Paris are gradually being reshaped: where cars once dominated, now trees are planted, benches installed, and cycling infrastructure developed. The aim is to design a public realm that serves people rather than motor vehicles, aligning with broader goals of climate adaptation and improved urban health.

Parking reform in Budapest

Budapest’s approach to parking regulation is also undergoing reform. As Tamás Strang, a public space operation expert from the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK), explained, the city adopted its first mobility plan in 2015 and has been updating it regularly. One major issue identified is the excessive use of public land by motor vehicles: up to 30% of public space is dedicated to traffic and parking. In 2022, the city simplified its parking system by reducing the number of tariff zones from 25 to 4, increasing parking fees, and extending paid parking hours. At the same time, a new centralized digital platform, BudapestGO, was launched to integrate mobility and parking services.

However, these reforms face several obstacles. Csaba Tóth from Clean Air Action Group pointed out that while in the last 29 years, the prices and wages have increased fivefold and fifteenfold, respectively, hourly parking fees have increased only two and half times. The annual residential parking fees remain low, too, as in Budapest they are tied to the hourly parking fees. Moreover, the district municipalities provide significant, often up to 100%, discounts for residents and local businesses. Fortunately, in the last couple of years several districts have reduced these discounts to some extent, but as the residential parking fees are still low (typically 50-100 euros/years) their effect is rather limited.

School streets in the two cities: a popular initiative for children

Isabelle Imhof, Strategy and Urban Policy Officer of the French NGO RESPIRE, presented another emblematic feature of Paris’s mobility policy: the introduction of “rues aux écoles” (school streets). In 2019, they created an air quality map of schools which highlighted the problem. This provided a basis for starting the school streets program in 2020 that aimed to create 300 low-traffic zones around schools by 2026. These areas are either fully or partially closed to motorised traffic at least during school drop-off and pick-up times, creating safer, quieter, and less polluted environments for children.

Three school street models have been developed:

1) Fully redesigned streets, where sidewalks and roadways are integrated into a single shared space, prioritizing pedestrians and access to motorised traffic is very limited.

2) Tactical urbanism solutions, involving low-cost, flexible elements such as signs, planters, and temporary barriers.

3) Limited-access streets, where traffic is restricted through signage without significant physical alterations.

These school streets have proven to be extremely popular. Local communities, parents, teachers, children, and residents often embrace these spaces as extensions of the school environment and as new forms of public space. Children use them to play, while adults find opportunities for social interaction. This success demonstrates the potential of low-cost interventions to trigger larger transformations in urban mobility and public space design.

As explained by Judit Szegő, the campaign lead for school streets from Clean Air Action Group, in Budapest, the road to sustainable urban mobility is more complex. While interest in school streets is growing, progress has been slower and uneven due to legal, political, and administrative barriers. Even one-time school street events are currently not permitted under Hungarian law without declaring a formal demonstration at the police. (Nevertheless, some days after the webinar, the Municipality of Budapest has decided to launch a school street programme that aims to create at least 46 school streets – two per district– within a year.)

Despite these limitations, some local successes offer hope. In Budapest’s 11th district, a combination of citizen involvement and municipal support has led to temporary initiatives such as the “Bike to School” and street festivals, aimed at raising awareness about the health and safety impacts of motorized traffic near schools. These pilot projects play a key role in testing solutions and building public support for longer-term reforms.

The experiences of Paris and Budapest illustrate both the potential and the complexity of transforming urban mobility. In Paris, political leadership, strong planning tools, and public support have enabled significant changes in parking and school street policies. In contrast, Budapest is moving forward more cautiously, navigating legal constraints and variable local engagement. Nonetheless, both cities highlight a broader European trend: the redistribution of public space in favor of people-centered, sustainable urban design.

The webinar took place on 21st of May 2025 and was organized by Clean Air Action Group (Hungary) and RESPIRE (Association Nationale pour l’Amélioration de la Qualité de l’Air et la Défense des Victimes de la Pollution, France). It was supported by the French Institute in Budapest and the Clean Cities Campaign.

The webinar’s presentations are accessible here:

• Francis Pacaud: Parking reforms in Paris

• Tamás Strang: A budapesti parkolási reformok és eredményeik (The parking reforms in Budapest and their results)

• Csaba Tóth: A budapesti lakossági parkolási reform egy civil szervezet szemszögéből (The Budapest residential parking reform from the perspective of an NGO)

• Isabelle Imhof: School Streets in Paris: the “Rue aux écoles” scheme

• Judit Szegő: Utcák a gyerekért Magyarországon (Street for Kids in Hungary)

The recording of the webinar is accessible here.