Statute on the design of parking spaces - Chemnitz

The City of Chemnitz (Germany) passed a Statute on Parking Spaces in 2022 (Stellplatzgestaltungssatzung), which aims is to promote a greening and landscaping of parking lots across the city and to increase the proportion of water-permeable pavements. The introduction of green elements is intended to enhance the cityscape and thus the living, working and living environment of the residents. Water-permeable pavements also aim to contribute to the reduction of soil sealing and thus, in the sense of the Water Resources Act, to the preservation of the efficiency of the water balance and to the reduction of surface runoff. With this statute, not only the aesthetic but also the climatic, health and ecological conditions in the urban area are to be improved successively and sustainably. The statute is a binding and dedicated law for newly created private and public parking lots. The greening of parking lots aplies for all parking spaces (bicycle and car) bigger than 60 m2 and should entail a plant strip with bushes and trees around or between them. For every additional 60 m2 of parking space one large-crowed tree needs to be planted. The water-permeable pavements are allowed to have a discharge coefficient of maximum 0,7. The parking space itself needs to be inclined in a way that the water is accesibil by the planting strips. Irregularities agianst the statute can be fined.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Dedicated strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The aim of this Statute is to utilize the potential of parking spaces and parking lots in order to create more green space in the city and thereby make the living, working and living environment more attractive; promote the quality of stay; structure facilities functionally and visually through trees; and use plantings to delimit facilities from adjacent streets and paths. In parallel, the Statute aims to increase the proportion of planted ground (plant strips around parking spaces bigger than 60 m2 and one big-croweded tree per 60 m2 of parking space) and water-permeable construction methods (maximum discharge-coefficient is 0,7) in parking lots to: limit the increasing surface sealing and to reduce it in the long term; support groundwater recharge; use the precipitation water directly for the irrigation of the planting; increase the retention of precipitation water (prevention of heavy rainfall); relieve the burden on the sewage system and wastewater treatment plants by significantly reducing runoff volumes; and counteract the increasing overheating of our city and improve the local climate (heat prevention).

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

City of Chemnitz, Urban Development Department, Urban Development Office

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Urban Development Department's Urban Development Office was responsible for initiating and overseeing the design of the Statute. All relevant departments in the City of Chemnitz were invited to give feedback on the draft during its design and taken into account during its finalisation. In addition, all village and city councils had the opportunity to give feedback and amend parts of the Statute.

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The main role of the public is to implement and obey the Statute during the development of parking lots and to ensure the maintance of those. There are no local funds to support the implementation of the Statute.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public local authority’s budget

Details about instrument financing:

The municipality paid for the development of the Statute, but the exact amount is not known since it was developed internally. The municipality dose not pay any funding for the implementation actions associated with the Statute.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The intended outcome of this Statute is to utilize the potential of parking spaces and parking lots within Chemnitz to create more green space in the city and to increasing the proportion of planted ground and water-permeable areas in parking lots. Given the newness of the Statute, no quantified impacts are able to be presented yet.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The creation of this Statute was welcomed by the city council, as it was presented as a part of the upcoming Masterplan on Urban Nature. By focusing on the greening and water permeability of parking lots, the Statute is already able to showcase some of the possibilities that can be expected within the Masterplan on Urban Nature. Even though that it is a binding Statute applications of exemptions are possible, time will tell how often applications are made.

Sources and further information

References

Interview(s):

City of Chemnitz, Urban Development Department, Urban Development Office

Photos

@pixabay