What about car use in new urban neighbourhoods? Insights from a mid-sized European post-socialist city

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68145535%3A_____%2F25%3A00637301" target="_blank" >RIV/68145535:_____/25:00637301 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106174" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106174</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2025.106174" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.cities.2025.106174</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

What about car use in new urban neighbourhoods? Insights from a mid-sized European post-socialist city

Original language description

For decades, researchers have studied how the urban built environment affects car use, informing proximity-based planning to reduce car dependency. The assumption is that replicating historic pedestrian-friendly urban design in new developments will reduce automobility. However, the empirical relationship between car usage and the period of construction has not yet been studied. This paper evaluates the extent of this relationship, using the neighbourhood level as the unit of analysis. Taking Brno (Czech Republic) as an example—a city experiencing post-socialist transformation—the regression model estimates that the construction period is a significant predictor of work-commuting car use, with neighbourhoods built in the 1990s and early 2000s showing greater likelihood of car dependency compared to pre-war constructions. Furthermore, lower car use appears typical for neighbourhoods with good job accessibility. In addition to built environment characteristics and the temporal context of development, car use is also shaped by an institutionalized, centrally governed system of building regulations. Locally promoted sustainable mobility policies, operationalized through proximity-based planning concepts, clash with rigid regulations mandated at the national level. Thus, new developments are physically car-friendly, poorly integrated with public transport, and lack jobs within walking distance. While further research is needed to examine individual transport behaviour and attitudes toward cars in newly built urban areas, this case study reveals the limits of current planning practice, which struggles to deliver less car-oriented neighbourhoods. These findings highlight critical gaps between planning ideals and legislative constraints, providing important implications for urban policies promoting sustainable mobility goals.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

50704 - Environmental sciences (social aspects)

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA25-18063S" target="_blank" >GA25-18063S: Urban space renewal as a path to socially just mobilities? A multi-scalar approach</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Cities

ISSN

0264-2751

e-ISSN

1873-6084

Volume of the periodical

165

Issue of the periodical within the volume

October 2025

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

106174

UT code for WoS article

001523491500001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105008543613