HOW TO ENSURE MULTIMODALITY IN ADVERSE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS AND SIMULTANEOUSLY REACH SMART CITY GOALS

摘要

Climate adversity in winter ranges from tropical rain to arctic conditions around the globe.Understandably, people have adapted to those different weather conditions in theircountries. Thus their perception of the problem as well as their assessment has optimizedthe behaviour when encountering adverse weather.The principles of sustainable planning and design of transport infrastructure includesconcepts such as the “compact (and slow) city”, comprehensive transport policiesimplementing all means of transport, and a more social (affordable, barrier-free) andenvironment-friendly planning philosophy. One of the most crucial preconditions is thecoordination of all means of transport and the combination of their respective advantages.In general, multimodality can be defined as possibility of covering trips with various meansof transport. The equality needs to be assessed from different points of view of a widerange of users (elderly, children, disabled, etc.).Mode choice is strongly based on subjective parameters which have been investigated indepthin transport research (travel time benefits, cost benefits, etc.). Further relevantparameters are for example energetical reasons (body energy consumption) andpsychological factors (rank, positive/negative experiences). Some of these criteria such asacceptable times or trip lengths can be derived from the Weber-Fechner approach. Othersubjective parameters are based on perception abilities of humans and are mainlyunconscious. However, to a high extent all of these factors are related to external weatherfactors e.g. cold, rain, wind etc.In concrete terms, the individual’s choice is based on perceptions of attractiveness of theenvironment and the road design. Austria as well as other countries has set guidelines onroad design to tackle these conditions. However, it is important to keep in mind thatevaluation methods are subjective whenever dealing with an individual planner orevaluation panels.Apart from physical objectives (accessibility of PT stops, car and bicycle parking places) ordesign targets (optical structuring in the trip chain), human ecological and functional goals(body energy saving by reducing barriers; arcades or shed roofs) have to be aimed atwhen having in mind protection against adverse weather conditions and to encouragemultimodal travel.Long-term goals such as multimodality, bike&ride-facilities and organizational measurese.g. prioritized snow clearing of walking and cycling infrastructure are not only valuablemeans to meet the Smart City targets but also appliances to create a liveable city. In theface of progressing climatic change flexible measures regarding a modification of basicexternal conditions (heavy rainfalls, temperature increase) must be observed.