We live in the center of Edinburgh and the parking in the center of town is split into standard "Pay and Display" and zoned resident-only parking (which we pay a fixed amount per year for). This seems to work fairly well - we have a car that we really don't use that often (my wife and I both walk to work and our son walks to school) but we just keep it parked on one of the residents parking spaces on the street outside our flat.

You have to have proof of actually living in the relevant zone to get a residents parking permit - but this is pretty easy to do (they check you against the council tax register).