The constantly growing volume of motorised traffic in conurbations continues to cause political dispute about how to find and pick the most suitable measures to be taken. A closer look to the driving forces behind the trend towards a more and more car-dependent society leads to the conclusion that most of the decisions being highly relevant to the transportation and mobility patterns in urban regions are made far outside the transportation sphere and mostly without any thought spent on the traffic effects they cause. Many municipal decisions taken under severe financial considerations shape the daily mobility decisions of the inhabitants. This is especially the case when new housing developments are planned. A travel survey conducted in 2000/2001 in the Greater Hamburg region among nearly 2,000 households in recently constructed homes showed how much people's modal choices as much as the distances they travel daily react to the location and planning decisions taken or approved by the municipalities. Important factors are the location's distance to important workplaces, its integration into the existing urban tissue, the amount of close-by shops and services and the quality of public transport. Seen from a transportation planner's point of view it would be preferable if municipalities would - as far as possible - give preference to those locations for new developments where the transport needs of its future inhabitants could be satisfied with the lowest possible amount of individual motorised transportation. A study on the Berlin-Brandenburg region in 1998 tried to identify the reasons behind these decisions by systematically interviewing mayors and decision makers in planning administrations. The result was a whole range of factors, including such soft but strong motivations as the prestige of being an "active and growing community". One of the most important factors identified in the study was the financial component. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Abstract