Space and Traffic – A Field of Complex Interrelations. Can Interventions in the Built Environment Really Reduce Transport-Related Climate Emissions?

Abstract

The image of an integrated urban and transport planning is linked to the hope for a turnaround in the mutual interrelations between the built environment and transport that have actually induced more transport to date. Planning interventions in location structures and transport supply should therefore effectively contribute to reduce transportrelated climate emissions. However, the targeted design of mixed land-use and compact location structures on the local and regional level is superimposed by societal and spatial trends that make large-scale mobility politically desirable or necessary. Against this background, the hopes mentioned before appear widely overstated. In this paper we put wellknown empirical findings in new contexts of interpretation, and we point to other – from our perspective, more important – drivers of transport trends that are beyond the scope of integrated urban and transport planning. We conclude that integrated urban and transport planning should not be justified by avoiding carbon dioxide emissions, but remains reasonable for other reasons.