COMBES Edith

Parking is a key policy tool for regulating car use in cities. Because all car trips start and end with parking, parking policies directly affect urban accessibility, congestion, public space use, and emissions related to traffic and cruising. In large metropolitan areas, they represent a central instrument to mitigate negative externalities such as CO₂, NOx and particulate emissions, congestion, and excessive occupation of public space.

This PhD focuses on the evaluation of parking policies, with a particular emphasis on pricing schemes, differentiated tariffs, and the regulation of on-street parking demand. It investigates how these policies affect user behavior depending on vehicle characteristics, user profiles, spatial contexts, and time patterns. It also aims to better understand the role of parking in shaping mobility patterns and car use in urban areas.

Initial analyses conducted on the Lyon metropolitan area highlight the role of the built environment in shaping on-street parking demand. These results provide a first step toward more robust ex ante and ex post evaluations of parking policies, with a view to informing public decision-making.

More broadly, the research takes place in a context of progressive implementation of urban mobility policies. In Lyon, parking policies, Low Emission Zones (LEZ), and Low Traffic Zones (LTZ) are gradually introduced until 2025. The thesis primarily focuses on parking policies while accounting for their interaction with other instruments regulating car access to cities.

Finally, particular attention is paid to the social and political acceptability of these policies. Beyond effectiveness, parking policies raise important issues related to equity, accessibility, and the distribution of costs across users. The objective is to produce results that are both academically rigorous and relevant for policymakers.

In addition to academic publications, the research aims to disseminate findings to public authorities and a broader audience