Cities with high population density face different mobility problems that must be solved to ensure smooth traffic flow. Optimizing public space in densely populated cities thus becomes an obligation for public administrations and companies that develop solutions and technologies in this field.
The more inhabitants a city has, the more vehicles on the streets, which can lead to more traffic jams, environmental and noise pollution, stress and poor quality of life for citizens. And we are not only referring to the regular population, but also to the floating population in the most touristic cities and whose urban centers and access areas to tourist sites or beaches suffer heavy traffic jams.
Whether for smart tourist destinations or to optimize public space in densely populated cities all year round, digitization through advanced technologies is the most reliable solution. The goal is to achieve the lowest possible number of vehicles circulating in search of parking spaces and to avoid the improper use of reserved parking spaces, facilitating traffic flow.
In Urbiotica we want to talk about several advanced technology solutions aimed at this specific point: managing mobility in the public space of cities in a smart way, efficiently and without high economic costs.
Solutions for optimizing public space in densely populated cities
In an ever-changing world, cities face the challenge of adapting to the demands of climate change. This involves the transformation of lanes and parking spaces into green spaces, bicycle lanes, and parking areas for electric vehicles. However, this transition presents additional challenges in densely populated populations, where parking availability is reduced, and more space is allocated to services such as loading and unloading, electric vehicle charging stations, cabs, and areas for people with reduced mobility.
Guidance solution to areas with parking space availability
The guidance solution to available parking spaces, successfully implemented in the City of Rosario (Argentina), has significantly reduced traffic congestion by directing drivers to vacant parking spaces. This solution includes U-Spot sensors and a guidance application that informs drivers about free spaces, which has resulted in a decrease in vehicles searching for parking, increased citizen satisfaction, improved mobility in the city center, and a reduction in environmental pollution.
Guidance solution for park&Ride zones
The Park&Ride solution encourages the use of deterrent parking areas by providing real-time information on parking space availability and guiding vehicles to free spaces in order to reduce traffic and pollution in the city center. Based on a robust communication infrastructure, this solution offers unique and highly reliable parking space detection and entry/exit counting systems in delimited parking lots. Its easy integration with other multimodal platforms and its range of services make it a complete solution for the efficient management of these areas.
Urban parking guidance
Efficient loading and unloading solution
This solution focuses on optimizing operations in loading and unloading areas to avoid traffic congestion and misuse of these regulated spaces. This is achieved by guiding delivery drivers to available spaces and applying alert-based controls to prevent misuse of these zones. It has proven to reduce violations, improve loading and unloading time management, reduce control costs and reduce double-parked vehicles. A successful case in Castellón, Spain, shows how this solution increases compliance with regulations and improves traffic flow, benefiting both the city and loading and unloading users.
Pay-per-place parking control solution
The implementation of a pay-per-space parking system in areas with high demand for public parking significantly improves regulatory compliance and control efficiency. It issues alerts to managers and local police in case of violations or time overruns, optimizing monitoring costs and reducing parking fraud. In addition, it increases vehicle turnover, improves urban mobility and reduces parking search time. The solution ranges from vehicle detection to application management and variable signage panels, standing out for its robustness, reliability and easy integration with other parking systems through modern and standard APIs.
Free Time-Limited Parking Control Solution
It aims to improve the management of time-limited parking zones and ensure compliance with established regulations. It alerts service managers or local police when parking sessions exceed the allowed time, improves urban mobility and promotes access to local commerce. The solution uses spot-by-spot parking sensors and offers tools such as mobile applications for users and real-time alerts for control and planning. Its versatility and ease of integration make it complete and effective for Free Limited Time parking control.
Advantages of optimizing public space in densely populated cities
We mentioned this at the beginning of the article, but to conclude, we explain in more detail the main advantages of optimizing public space in densely populated cities with these and other digital solutions that we have just listed.
Improves and organizes urban mobility
Densely populated cities are characterized by the many vehicles that circulate through their streets and it is estimated that 30% of them do so in search of a parking space. For this reason, the improvement of urban mobility depends on the good use of available technology that serves to decongest traffic in cities by guiding users to areas where parking spaces are available, and to make a good control to avoid indiscipline in the use of regulated parking lots.
The optimization of public spaces in cities is essential to avoid major traffic jams that only cause inconvenience for all drivers and citizens. The present and the future must be based on orderly and intelligent mobility (Smart Mobility).
Pollution in cities is reduced
Encouraging fast parking for vehicles looking for a parking space on the street or in a parking lot is another priority. It is estimated that up to 30% of traffic in cities is vehicles looking for a parking space. So, in parallel with the first advantage, the technology allows vehicles to circulate less time and reduces pollution in cities.
This pollution is of two types: on the one hand, from the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), which is one of the reasons for the establishment of Low Emission Zones (LEZ). On the other hand, acoustics due to the noise of engines and horns when there are traffic jams or inefficient mobility in urban areas. The more stress for drivers, the more noise and the worse quality of life for people. With the technology we have explained, all this is reduced.
Promotes the economic activity of businesses
And thirdly, it favors the economic activity of the businesses by allowing a quiet pedestrian traffic and efficient activity in the loading and unloading areas by the employees of the transport companies.
This can be achieved through measures such as the pedestrianization of central urban areas or the implementation of time-limited parking zones in tourist cities, such as Calpe, which is one of the smart tourist destinations mentioned at the beginning of the article.
In addition, these time-limited parking solutions stimulate vehicle turnover, which in turn increases the availability of parking spaces. In short, optimizing public space in densely populated cities is possible thanks to advanced solutions and technologies, such as those mentioned in this article by Urbiotica. We are firmly convinced that digitalization is unstoppable and that the main goal of any technology is to simplify, improve comfort and promote people’s health. In this context, the priority is to achieve sustainable, orderly and intelligent urban mobility.
