The air people breathe, the streets they walk, and their general sense of safety and happiness are all shaped by city and town plans. But it’s a traditional complaint about urban life: there’s never anywhere to park. Increasingly, cities are rethinking their approach to parking problems.

More often, a city can’t build its way out of a parking shortage. As many as a third of the cars on city streets may be looking for parking spots at any given time.

Dubai, which is prioritizing walkable urban development and cycling tracks, has established a public joint stock company, Parkin, to oversee the operations of parking spaces in Dubai.

Among the company’s tasks is creating, planning, designing, operating, and managing public parking spaces with legislation regulating them. It is also responsible for issuing permits to people, allowing them to subscribe to public parking as per a contract.

According to the statement, Parkin will hold financial, administrative, and legal autonomy in executing its responsibilities. 

The design and management of private parking spaces is also on the company’s agenda, along with investment and other business-related activities.

Under the new law, the Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai will delegate certain or all responsibilities to Parkin, which will be finalized via a franchise agreement between RTA and the new company.

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