Beibei District in Chongqing has transformed a landfill into an eco-friendly parking lot, effectively alleviating the parking difficulties faced by local residents.
The photo shows the eco-friendly parking lot at the east gate of the Zhuangyuan Mansion.
Photo by Qin Tingfu (People Visual)
On July 30, 2019, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee convened a meeting, sending out several major signals. The meeting called for stabilizing investment in the manufacturing sector, implementing projects to address infrastructure shortcomings—such as renovating old urban residential areas, building urban parking facilities, and developing cold-chain logistics networks in both urban and rural areas—and accelerating the development of new types of infrastructure, including information networks. Among them, “urban parking facilities,” as a key component of the “New Infrastructure” initiative, were mentioned for the first time.
With the tone set by the Politburo meeting, urban parking‑lot development—centered on smart parking—will emerge as a promising new pillar of consumer‑driven investment, while the long‑standing “parking shortage” that has plagued residents will gradually be addressed in this vigorous wave of “new infrastructure” initiatives.
Spend money where it matters most.
As is well known, investment is one of the “three driving forces” behind economic growth.
As China’s economy has shifted from a phase of rapid growth to one of high-quality development, the mindset and approaches to spending must also evolve.
Over the past few decades, China’s investments have largely been directed toward traditional infrastructure projects—often referred to as “iron, public‑works, and basic‑infrastructure” initiatives—including railways, highways, airports, ports, and water‑conservation facilities.
These investments once played a pivotal role in China’s economic development, and the slogan that resonated across the country—“If you want to get rich, build roads first”—was a testament to their impact.
However, as times have changed, after more than two decades of rapid growth, China’s traditional infrastructure has gradually reached saturation, and its contribution to economic expansion has begun to exhibit diminishing marginal returns. At the same time, risks associated with local government debt are also on the rise.
Under the new circumstances, how to spend money wisely and ensure that resources are allocated where they matter most has become the focus of widespread attention.
To this end, the central authorities have prescribed two remedies tailored to the situation:
Addressing Weaknesses and New Infrastructure.
As early as September 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission held a special press conference, stating that it would “ensure that limited funds are directed toward areas that can increase effective supply and address development bottlenecks, thereby promoting high-quality development.”
Ma Qiang, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Infrastructure at the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that China’s transportation infrastructure still has numerous shortcomings and weaknesses, leaving considerable room for development and making it a key sector for boosting effective investment.
Moreover, at the Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of that year, the concept of “new infrastructure” was put forward for the first time.
The meeting emphasized the need to “give full play to the pivotal role of investment… strengthen the development of new infrastructure such as artificial intelligence, the industrial internet, and the Internet of Things, and increase investment in intercity transportation, logistics, and municipal infrastructure, while addressing shortcomings in rural infrastructure and public service facilities.”
From this perspective, the Politburo meeting on July 30 this year explicitly highlighted urban parking facilities, thereby refining and further developing the earlier policy framework of “addressing weak links and advancing new infrastructure.”
As Pan Jiaofeng, President of the Institute for Strategic Studies on Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has stated:
“Investing in new infrastructure not only addresses the traditional infrastructure gaps but also lays a solid foundation for long-term development.”
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In the future, addressing urban parking challenges will rely on the support of new infrastructure such as big data and the Internet of Things.
In this sense, urban parking‑lot development stands at the intersection of efforts to address infrastructure gaps and the new‑infrastructure initiative.
A trillion-dollar market remains untapped.
The development of urban parking facilities not only boosts effective investment but also holds the potential to become a new driver of consumption.
How big is the urban parking market?
According to the “White Paper on the Development of the Parking Industry,” jointly released by the Tsinghua Tongheng Planning and Design Research Institute in Beijing and the China Urban Public Transportation Association, China’s parking-related spending reached RMB 400 billion in 2016 alone.
Beneath the abstract data lies a tangible gap in demand.
According to data from the Traffic Management Bureau of China’s Ministry of Public Security, as of June 2019, the country’s vehicle ownership had reached 250 million.
There are 66 cities with a vehicle stock exceeding one million, and Beijing and Chengdu each have a vehicle stock of over five million.
In contrast, the average ratio of cars to parking spaces in Chinese cities is approximately 1:0.8, significantly lower than the 1:1.3 observed in developed countries.
However, the growth rate of parking spaces is unlikely to keep pace with the increase in vehicle numbers. To address the challenge of finding parking, efforts must also focus on improving parking space utilization.
According to the ETCP Smart Parking Industry Research Institute, the vacancy rate for parking spaces in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen stands at 44.6%, while in cities across China, more than 90% of parking spaces have a utilization rate below 50%.
The report also notes that when parking space utilization rises to 80%, as in Shanghai and Chongqing, the supply of parking spaces will exceed demand.
On the one hand, parking is hard to come by; on the other, there are plenty of empty spaces. This stark contrast stems from poor coordination of parking information, leading to low parking‑space utilization rates.
Driven by demand, the market has seen the emergence of a number of smart parking companies.
Among them, industry leaders Jieshun, TingJianDan, and Kotuo have already secured investments from the two tech giants, Alibaba and Tencent.
With the dual support of policy and capital, the parking industry is poised to undergo a comprehensive transformation.
Industry insiders note that, compared with developed countries, China’s parking market still has substantial room for growth. In developed nations, the parking sector typically accounts for nearly 1% of GDP; extrapolating from this benchmark, China could harbor a market worth trillions of yuan waiting to be unlocked.
Tackling the pressing public concern of “difficulty in finding parking”
Xiao Chen, a night-shift editor at a Beijing-based media outlet, feels the “parking shortage” acutely—right down to his very core.
Xiao Chen told the reporter that his home is located in a residential complex built before 2000 and does not have an underground parking garage.
All the cars belonging to the more than two hundred households in the community are parked on the ground within the residential complex.
Due to the number of parking spaces being fewer than the number of residents, the community prohibits residents from installing wheel locks, and all parking spaces are available for public use.
“This is actually a good policy; it ensures high utilization of parking spaces in the community, with most residents able to find a spot during the day.”
But by the time I got home from work in the early hours, things had changed.
“Xiao Chen said with a wry smile that by that time, the residential complex was already packed with cars—some even parked in the fire lanes. ‘The driver even wrote on the temporary parking permit, “Sorry, there really was nowhere else to park.”’”
According to Xiao Chen’s recollection, on one occasion he circled the residential complex three times in search of a parking spot, spending a full 40 minutes before finally squeezing into a narrow gap.
Xiao Chen’s night-shift job may not be typical, but his concerns are highly representative.
“Right next to our residential complex stands a commercial skyscraper, and its underground parking garage has over 200 spaces. Yet at night, the lot sits mostly empty—still, we’re not allowed to drive in.”
Why can’t this portion of the parking spaces be made available at night?
Even paying a fee would be fine.
“Xiao Chen said.”
In fact, the service that Mr. Chen is advocating for is already being offered by smart parking companies in the market.
For example, “Jie Tingche” has launched a “Off-Peak Monthly Pass” feature that, when residential parking spaces are fully occupied at night, directs drivers to nearby commercial centers with ample available spots.
However, industry insiders told reporters that, due to the complex and fragmented ownership of parking infrastructure, siloed management, difficult coordination of interests, and the lack of a unified information network, the widespread adoption of this model faces numerous challenges.
Now, following the Politburo’s explicit call to prioritize urban parking‑lot development, it is expected that local governments will roll out corresponding policies one after another. By coordinating the interests of various stakeholders and breaking down “information silos,” these measures will enable the government to play its rightful role, address issues that businesses alone cannot resolve, and make every effort to tackle the pressing public‑service challenge of parking shortages.
