Planning and organizing space for climate-friendly spatial development

Abstract

In many places in Austria, spatial development stands in the way of a climate-friendly design of everyday life. Land consumption is high in international comparison. Urban sprawl and fragmentation of the landscape - the drifting apart of housing, work, supply, leisure and mobility - are becoming increasingly visible and noticeable. Patchy settlement areas, fraying settlement edges, trade and commercial agglomerations with large-scale car parks at the entrances to towns, as well as remote tourist facilities lead to high energy consumption and long journeys that are mainly made by car. Sealing and overbuilding contribute to overheating and increased surface runoff and thus to the risk of flooding. Even if the growth rates in land use and motorized private transport have decreased noticeably in recent years, the building structure and traffic situation in Austria continue to exacerbate the climate crisis.