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SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT CITY MODELS IN TRANSPORT SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY ISSUE

Aleksandra Faron

Abstract

?Dimensioning all the elements in the urban layout should not be executed in any other way but that which is in accordance with human scale? [1], [2]. Evolution of the development of towns and cities resulted in the development of various models of spatial layout and the relations between urban units and human beings. Ancient and medieval towns demonstrated compact spatial arrangement, which resulted in generating shorter journeys and provision of security for the inhabitants. However, the very dense network of streets and small city blocks caused lack of comfort for pedestrians and more difficult living conditions for the inhabitants. In the modern era, towns and cities slowly began to develop outside their walls, while maintaining high intensity of development within new fortifications. The development of cities in the industrial age was driven by the dynamic development of new technologies, including those related to transport (such as railway systems). Fast development of commercial services began, while people migrated from rural areas to towns and cities on an unprecedented scale. This resulted in harsher living conditions faced in towns, due to increased pollution caused by industry, as well as household-generated air pollution. Because of such nuisance, suburban settlements developed, most often close to train stations. At that time, towns and cities were characterised by segregation of functions in space, with the simultaneous development of collective transport (railway, underground/subway, trams, and trolleybuses). The present post-industrial era brought spatial solutions closer to the principles of sustainable development of cities. At this time, the functions of an area became mixed, which resulted in shortening the distance to commute between the place of residence and the place of work. Simultaneously, the accessibility of city centres for cars became limited. Also, the expansion of housing developments outside urban areas began. The ?urban sprawl?, that is the ?spreading of urban developments on undeveloped land near a city? caused increasing numbers of journeys by means of private cars/individual transport, which contributed to growing congestion on roads leading into towns/cities. Every town and city took social and economic aspects into account in its ideology of development. The relation between man and his place of work has always been the foundation of those aspects. Towns and cities developed due to the increasing social requirements of people (in reference to the quality of life), and technological abilities, mainly connected with transport systems, in the background. The history of the development of towns and cities demonstrates that changes in the functional and spatial structure are subject to periodic fluctuations between compact and dispersed types of development, between monocentric and polycentric ones. Owing to new technologies we can travel faster over longer distances, using various means of transport, while the notion of space is dimensioned and expressed as the time required to reach the journey destination. However, cities are still required to develop their spatial structures in such a way that would allow the number of journeys over long distances (most often made by car) to be minimised, while maximising travelling over shorter distances (on foot or by bicycle). One can distinguish some models of spatial development of cities, which can either result in an increase in car-dependent mobility, or generate increased pedestrian traffic. Thus, the level of air pollution caused by exhaust gases from automobiles depends on the model according to which a city has been developed (or is still developing).

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018v/6.4/s10.100

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