Understanding Urban Sprawl and Identifying New Planning Solutions
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
photo: DB AG/Axel Hartmann 2nd Newsletter | May 2011 Understanding urban sprawl Catch-MR (Cooperative approaches to trans- and identifying new planning port challenges in Metropolitan Regions) is an INTERREG IVC projekt running from solutions – The second work- January 2010 until December 2012 with a total budget of approximately Euro 2 million. shop in Vienna, Austria In the context of the first phase of the Catch-MR project, experts from seven Workshop from European metropolitan regions were given an opportunity to meet for an 29 September to intensive thematic exchange and to discuss issues of transport and regional 1 October 2010 in Vienna. planning. Traffic and land use planning – Understanding urban sprawl The Vienna workshop was jointly organised by the Lower Austrian and Viennese project partners as part of a series of seven Catch-MR events addressing three thematic areas. In the course of the workshop held in the Contacts: Austrian capital, the phenomenon of urban sprawl was analysed in depth while various co-operative structures to simplify the collaboration of planning actors were likewise presented and discussed. Government of Lower Austria Norbert Ströbinger Regional development planner Phone: +43 (0)2742/9005 15573 [email protected] Vienna City Administration Gregory Telepak Transportation planner Phone: +43 (0)1 4000/88833 [email protected] 2nd NEWSLETTER | May 2011 Page Contents What is Catch-MR? Catch-MR (Cooperative Approaches to Transport 2 What is Catch-MR? Challenges in Metropolitan Regions) is an INTER- REG IVC project running from January 2010 until De- 3 Urban sprawl in metropolitan cember 2012 and mainly financed by the European regions Regional Development Fund (ERDF). 5 Spatial development strategies 12 partners representing seven European Metropoli- in the Austrian metropolitan tan Regions (MR) take part in this project focusing on region sustainable transport solutions. The partners explore and seek to adapt passenger transport solutions with 8 The project workshop in Vienna the aim of reducing transport needs without impairing mobility while increasing the share of environmentally friendly transport. An overall objective is to improve 10 Site visit SUM – Interview competitiveness and quality of life. The project follows an integrated approach encompassing three themes: 11 Co-operation in planning (1) reducing the need to travel within the regions by (Ilse Wollansky and co-ordinating transport and land use, (2) increasing Thomas Madreiter) the share of public transport, and (3) increasing the use of renewable energy in transport. The partners pursue these objectives by identifying and promoting good practice. At the end of the project, the partners will present a “Guide on efficient mobility and sustain- able growth in Metropolitan Regions”, thus contribut- ing a joint approach applicable to Metropolitan Re- gions in general. (For more information visit: http://www.catch-mr.eu) May 2011 Photos: Vienna City Administration, MA 18 – Urban Development and Planning Source: http://www.geographypages.co.uk/carturbansprawl P. 1 + P. 11 – Government of Lower Austria P. 5 – R. Zuckerstätter P.11 – Schaub-Walzer Layout: bzw.co.at 2 | Catch-MR 2nd NEWSLETTER | May 2011 Urban sprawl in metropolitan regions Catch-MR aims at improving the quality of life and competitiveness of metropolitan regions by exploring comprise two federal states in their entirety. Since the good models of sustainable land use and transport dismantling of the Iron Curtain, sprawl phenomena development in the participating metropolitan regions are increasing and have led to numerous residential and investigating their transferability to other loca- developments in suburban areas. By now, numerous tions. The phenomenon of urban sprawl is a key issue “commuter towns” with 4,000-12,000 inhabitants each in this context. Suburbanisation is hardly a novelty, as have sprung up around Berlin’s condensed urban cities have been forced to deal with this trend since the core. industrial revolution. However, the problem has inten- sified over the past 50 years and about two decades The Budapest MR covers roughly the same area as ago began to afflict the originally much more compact the metropolitan regions of Vienna or Oslo. Due to cities of Southern and Eastern Europe as well. lower building land prices, many families have moved to the urban periphery. This development was accel- Urban sprawl is a continuous process of change. The erated by the upgrading of highways and motorways. increasing consumption of energy, water and fuel per Seven “commuter centres” emerged, initially to the capita or settlement unit markedly curtails spatial ef- north-west of the core city but now encircling it. The ficiency. But social diversity, too, is deteriorating: seg- older communities resulting from these sprawl tenden- regation in residential areas is on the rise while social cies were classic-style housing-only developments, interaction is decreasing. Thus the different planning while more recent communities present a mixed-use sectors are called upon to identify and implement so- pattern composed of residential units, R&D, industry lutions. and trade. How can urban sprawl be quantified? In the second half of the 20th century, the Vienna MR expanded mainly towards the south. Since the dis- Catch-MR conducted a questionnaire-based survey mantling of the Iron Curtain, the city and its environs in the partner regions in order to evaluate the extent have resumed growth. Urban sprawl accretes along and significance of key factors of urban sprawl in the the northern axis and in the south-eastern periphery seven metropolitan regions. The experience of the of the city. However, the Aspern airfield project (“Vi- partner regions indicates that the following seven as- enna’s Urban Lakeside”), for example, is a venture pects are crucial for the emergence of urban sprawl: aimed at planned urban expansion within the confines – macroeconomics: globalisation and of the municipal territory. economic growth – microeconomics: standard of life and land prices The Oslo MR is characterised by numerous settle- – demographics: population development ment cores developed as early as in the 1970s. Many and household size of these areas are far away from the city centre. How- – preferred housing types and lifestyles ever, development projects were also initiated in the – inner-city problems: environmental quality core city to revitalise a few rather isolated zones. Cur- and social factors rent plans envisage developing future urban expan- – mobility: public transport and individual traffic sion areas along efficient public transport axes. – planning culture and legal frame conditions Compared to the other regions, the Rome MR is of a Facts and figures small size and very densely populated. Urban sprawl is concentrated along radial highways and motorways; The key drivers of urban sprawl are transport develop- transportation is mostly limited to car traffic. ment in the regions, land prices and individual hous- ing preferences. Yet the situation is highly differenti- Urban sprawl in the Gothenburg MR covers a very ated in all Catch-MR metropolitan regions. large area. Many settlement cores are situated far away from the city centre. Some areas formerly char- The Berlin-Brandenburg MR is by far the biggest acterised by scattered summer cottages are now be- participating metropolitan region and the only one to ing condensed and urbanised. Catch-MR | 3 2nd NEWSLETTER | May 2011 The suburbanisation of the Ljubljana MR began in – Stepped-up investments in public transport the 1970s. Today, some sub-centres even have de- can render the traffic volume caused by veloped their own “hinterland” in its turn affected by urban sprawl at least slightly more sustainable. sprawl phenomena. Most of the growth is evolving in – More condensed suburban areas are endowed formerly rural settlements, which are being gradually with more pronounced central functions. turned into a part of suburbia. Attempts to decentralise – Metropolitan condensation in the form of centres key economic functions were unsuccessful; a mono- and sub-centres is combined with the centric structure with roughly 150,000 daily commut- development and protection of green spaces. ers to Ljubljana – most of whom use the car – has – Effective planning can develop infrastructure, remained in place. manage changes in land use and influence land prices. Urban sprawl “at a glance” All these steps contribute towards preventing further The below illustration shows the degree to which the urban sprawl. Moreover, the past two decades have six most important factors of urban sprawl are present seen a growing awareness of the necessity for differ- in the seven regions and is based on the evaluation ent interest groups and stakeholders to co-operate. of the questionnaires, which called for a joint assess- Different forms of co-operation were analysed and ment regarding each factor for every city and region. discussed in detail in the context of Catch-MR. While If this proved impossible, “no common understanding” it has become evident that systems cannot be trans- could be ticked off as an answer. ferred from one metropolitan region to another with- out modification, an active exchange of experience How to deal with urban sprawl? certainly imparts an understanding of, and the pos- sibility to, discuss the pros and cons of instruments Experts from all metropolitan regions represented in employed and tested in individual regions.