ParkWise: Data-Driven Differentiated Parking Pricing for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Edinburgh
ParkWise helps Edinburgh implement fair, differentiated parking charges based on vehicle attributes across its controlled parking zones (CPZs). Today, Edinburgh’s parking charges apply a flat rate regardless of vehicle type, so a compact car and a heavy SUV pay the same, despite their very different weight, size and emissions. This limits the city’s ability to steer drivers toward smaller, lower-emission vehicles and undermines its net zero 2030 ambitions.
ParkWise addresses this by combining vehicle data-driven pricing with digital-twin simulation in a single platform. It links vehicle registration data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA, the UK’s national vehicle registry) to existing parking payment systems, so that charges can automatically reflect a vehicle’s weight and emissions class. At the same time, an agent-based digital twin of Edinburgh’s CPZ ecosystem lets the city council simulate driver behaviour and forecast outcomes before any real-world change, so pricing schemes can be tested and refined with confidence rather than rolled out blind.
The project runs from July to December 2026 and is delivered by STAM S.r.l. in close collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council. It targets a 5% reduction in large and heavy vehicle parking in CPZs, validated through a live demonstration in a selected parking area agreed with the council.
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Edinburgh’s flat-rate parking charges treat compact cars and heavy SUVs the same, undermining efforts to cut heavy-vehicle traffic and reach net zero by 2030.
ParkWise links DVLA vehicle attributes to parking transactions and uses digital-twin simulation to design and test fair, differentiated charges before roll-out.
A 5% cut in heavy-vehicle CPZ parking, recovered kerbside space, fewer high-emission transactions and a replicable model for European cities.
