Parking Updates | Beijing: Resident-Led Parking Management Helps Solve Parking Challenges in Older Residential Communities

　　The Beijing Municipal Regulations on Motor Vehicle Parking stipulate that, under the guidance of residents’ committees and village committees, residential communities may establish self‑governance organizations to implement self‑management and self‑service for parking within the community. Such self‑managed services may charge reasonable fees to cover costs related to parking governance and infrastructure development, with details of fee collection and expenditure required to be publicly disclosed on a regular basis within the community. In practice, residential communities are jointly owned by all residents; the entire community can be viewed as an extended family, with each household as a member. Accordingly, parking issues should be addressed through collective consultation and negotiation, with residents themselves assuming responsibility for managing parking matters within their own community.

　　 In general, only older residential areas opt for self-managed parking systems. In recent years, newly built residential complexes are typically managed either by the property management company itself or by a professional parking‑management firm. By contrast, older neighborhoods constructed in the past often suffer from a lack of a clear managing entity, insufficient parking spaces, frequent disputes, and complicated ownership arrangements. The absence of a dedicated management body has given rise to a host of problems, including fierce competition for parking spots and unauthorized vehicles encroaching on community space. Accordingly, autonomous parking management fills a critical regulatory gap in the parking sector, helping to standardize residents’ parking practices, prevent issues such as unauthorized installation of parking locks and obstruction of fire lanes, and enhance the overall quality of the residential environment.

　　Resident‑led parking management requires systematic and in‑depth planning and implementation, which can broadly be divided into seven steps, specifically including:

　　In communities that have adopted parking self‑management, residents have the right to oversee both parkers and administrators in their compliance with the community regulations, to be informed about the collection and expenditure of parking fees, and to receive a share of the resulting revenues. These include the rights to oversee whether parking users park their vehicles in compliance with the community’s parking regulations and pay the applicable fees, to supervise the management entity’s adherence to the parking self‑governance rules, to ensure that parking revenues are used for routine parking operations, and to monitor the allocation of any surplus parking funds. At the same time, residents are also obligated to abide by the regulations of the Parking Self‑Management Committee and the Residents’ Autonomy Covenant. They shall follow the Committee’s rules of procedure, park their vehicles in accordance with the provisions of the Parking Autonomy Covenant, and pay the applicable parking fees.

　　Resident‑led parking governance lays the groundwork for transforming parking management in older residential communities from non‑existent to well‑established, and for shifting residents’ attitudes toward parking fees—from a willingness to pay whatever they choose to recognizing that parking management requires appropriate funding. By fostering such self‑governance, residents can develop a proper sense of responsibility for paying for parking. Once parking management and service operations within the community secure a stable revenue stream through this model, resident parking associations can advance multi‑level parking upgrades and expand parking capacity in line with actual demand.

　　The development of multi‑level parking facilities in older residential neighborhoods does not necessarily have to be implemented all at once to address the supply‑demand gap; such an approach would require coordinating with a large number of residents and is therefore difficult to achieve. The implementing entity is not necessarily the property management company alone. The government, community organizations, property management companies, and residents can each play their respective roles in implementing three-dimensional parking solutions in older residential neighborhoods. For instance, the government and community should collaborate to coordinate and drive the initiative; the initial infrastructure work is best entrusted to the property management company; and the final implementation of three-dimensional parking spaces can be broken down into smaller, manageable steps for residents to carry out individually. This approach represents a suitable model for advancing three-dimensional parking in older neighborhoods.

　　Xiaonanzhuang Community, located in Haidian Subdistrict, Haidian District, sits at the northwest corner of Suzhou Bridge. Built in the early 1970s, it is a quintessential old‑style residential neighborhood. Surrounded by other aging communities and with limited on‑street parking, parking has long been a persistent challenge for residents. In March 2018, under the leadership of the community Party committee and with guidance from the Haidian Parking Association, the Xiaonanzhuang Community Parking Management Self‑Governance Committee was established through a process of democratic consultation. Since then, community residents have volunteered to carry out tasks such as door-to-door outreach, parking space planning, fee management, and the development of rules and regulations. As a result, Xiaonanzhuang has become the city’s first self‑governed parking community that operates without seeking profit.

　　However, the community’s self‑managed parking system also requires the collection of parking fees to cover its operating costs, such as staff salaries, signage and pavement markings, essential traffic safety equipment, and the installation and maintenance of parking management facilities. After deducting these expenses from total parking revenue, any surplus is distributed as dividends to all residents. In May this year, the Xiaonanzhuang Community Self‑Management Committee used the surplus to purchase five-liter containers of cooking oil for 811 households, including both residents with cars and those without. All financial transactions are conducted under the supervision of the community Party committee, with full transparency and regular public disclosure to all residents.