Projects / Programmes
Transport land use: changes and effects on everday life
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.12.02 |
Humanities |
Geography |
Social geography |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S230 |
Social sciences |
Social geography |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.07 |
Social Sciences |
Social and economic geography |
land use, transport geography, traffic infrastructure, urban geography, spatial planning
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
24301 |
PhD David Bole |
Geography |
Head |
2011 - 2013 |
304 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The post-graduate project is intended for future research of new challenges that have emerged in the last twenty years due to significant changes in travelling patterns of Slovenes. The general “motorisation” of the society, the dramatic reduction of public transport and extensive investments into the private transport infrastructure (mainly motorways) have big impacts on the environment.
Firstly, we want to research the manner of how the aforementioned changes affected the transport land use and if any differences exist regarding the area type (suburban/urban) and what are those differences. Secondly, we will also be looking into the reasons for the possible changes in the transport land use. We will try to determine if these changes are a result of the rising demand for transport infrastructure, or planning decisions, political decisions or even a result of spontaneous growth, etc. The biggest emphasis will be made on the environmental and social impacts on the transport land use growth, if the aforementioned growth affects the living space and the social relations (social isolation, social conflicts, etc).
The above mentioned goals can be reached with various methods. The quantitative analyses (digital processing of aerial photographs in different time periods) will be employed mainly during the determining of land use changes. The quantitative methods (surveys among the population) will be employed for determining the impacts of transport infrastructure on the environment and the society. The qualitative methods (interview) will predominantly be employed when we will focus on the research of the conflicts between the transport and other types of land use.
Such research represents quite a novelty in Slovenia, because up till now geography has primarily dealt with the changes of land use in rural areas. Although some attempts in urban areas have already been made, we still don’t possess a clear picture about the growth of the transport land use in areas of cities or city districts. We only possess some assessments on the basis of analyses of aerial photographs in low resolution (e.g. Corinne Land Use or the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia), which don’t give an actual insight into the changes of transport land use. Another novelty is also the research of social impacts which are a result of the transport infrastructure growth. Current research doesn’t include the social dimension factor of the transport infrastructure growth, as they focus only on the physical, technical, financial and partly environmental impacts
The results of the post-doctoral research project are of great importance for the Slovene experts of geography, who haven’t yet tackled this question. The results represent a certain challenge, as they include also the research of land use, the transport and urban geography as well as the research of spatial planning.
Significance for science
In the past, geography has paid insufficient attention to the spatial dimensions of transportation land use. Geography is primarily a study of space, an important element of which is transportation land use – according to our data it accounts for more than half (53 %) of all the built-up areas in Slovenia. By performing a quantitative assessment of the expanse of transportation areas and their distribution with regard to (sub)urbanized/rural areas, we have made an important contribution to the development of transportation geography. We have determined that densely populated urban areas yield a more rational use of transportation areas, while rural areas, tourism-oriented areas and some of the most recent suburbanized business and shopping areas behave less rationally with respect to transportation land use. From the point of view of urban geography, we have discovered close links between the expansion of transportation land use and the age of urban neighbourhoods, thereby highlighting the increasing “automobilization” of the society and its direct impact on the environment. This is an important contribution to sustainable spatial management, especially as regards urban planning and retaining the quality of life facilitated by the environment. We have posed new questions, ones that exceed the boundaries of transportation geography alone: Is it alright to subject spatial planning to the growing demand for motorized transportation areas? When building urban neighbourhoods, is it important to consider primarily the capital (and highly burden a given environment with motorized transportation areas) or the long-term quality of a living environment (and have a higher number of green areas, public and pedestrian or cycling routes)? We would also like to point out some other achievements of the research project, which don't include only its results but also the methodology employed. In the methodological part of the project the usability of the two most employed sources for the determining of the transportation land use (the land cadastre on the one hand and the classified aerial photograph on the other) was determined. The accuracy analysis was made in the area of the cadastral municipality Gabrovica, where all the transportation areas were thoroughly mapped, which provided us with the detailed current state of the transportation land use. The analysis has shown that both sources overestimate the transportation land use, nevertheless the aerial photograph is more accurate and suitable than the land cadastre. The accuracy of determining the transportation land use is bound to increase with the employment of aerial photographs with higher resolution, with the post-hoc processing of photographs and with the combining with other sources and methods (e.g. the object classification or the so-called random forest teaching method of classifications). The researchers of transportation and other built-up areas should consider further development of classification methods of publicly accessible photographs of remote sensing, which would eliminate the determined deficiencies. We would also advise against employing the land cadastre for the process of determining the built-up and transportation land use, due to its unreliability.
Significance for the country
We believe that the results have a bigger impact mainly on the sustainable development of Slovenia. With the size of the transportation infrastructure within our living environment being determined, we can finally start the reduction of negative impacts of transportation infrastructure growth on the quality of life. The results show that special attention should be given to transportation planning in areas burdened with tourism, where a sizable increase of burdening with traffic roads is shown, since these are mostly ecologically vulnerable or protected areas (e.g. the Triglav National Park or Logarska Valley). A strong increase can also be seen in suburban areas, where modern shopping, business and commercial areas are being built. Therefore we suggest taking steps towards lesser dependency on cars and the transformation into a more sustainable mobility, based on the adequately planned public transport and other competitive mobility forms. This also contributes to the changes in planning practices, extending from the inclusion of maximum parking standards instead of the current minimum ones, to bigger emphasis on the planning of the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, to a more integrated transport and spatial planning. We are not striving only towards improving the quality of living but also towards reducing the economic costs. The maintenance of the unnecessary transportation infrastructure is costly and only rarely economically justified; due to the increase of the environmental demands the external costs of transportation will rise. They already represent a threat for Slovenia, in the scope of EU Commission fines due to the excess of dust particles emissions in Ljubljana. We determined that on the local level and predominantly in older city neighbourhoods the transportation land use is increasing on account of the decrease of green areas, which leads to the worsening of the population’s living environment. Newer suburbanized city outskirts are increasingly adapting to the ”automobilization” of life which carries also social consequences. The biggest indirect meaning for the society lies in presenting it with the alternative view on the expansion of the transportation infrastructure in a completely local context. Our research questions the purpose of some bigger planned infrastructure projects, such as the expansion of the Ljubljana city ring road and some roads entering the city. Instead we propose the change of planning practice, which will represent a turn toward a more sustainable mobility and consequently towards the sustainable development of the entire country.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
