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Autonomous Vehicles as Reactivators for Peripheral Areas

Various Swiss municipalities will experience different changes in population due to AVs. © Myra Rotermund
Various Swiss municipalities will experience different changes in population due to AVs. © Myra Rotermund

Self-driving vehicles (AVs) will dissolve the boundaries between individual and public transport, changing the attractiveness of different areas as residential locations. The lack of public transport services in peripheral communities is currently leading to population decreases despite great (financial) efforts (e.g. Albinen VS). The aim of this study was to examine the potential of AVs to re-activate such communities in Switzerland.

Regarding a sustainable development for society, environment and economy and bearing in mind the definitive limitation of land as a resource, it is worth examining opportunities that potentially strengthen established communities and their existing infrastructures at peripheral locations.
An important difference between peripheral and central areas are different levels of accessibility. Accessibility (as a potential) not only measures the spatial impact of transport infrastructures (such as travel time) but also the attractiveness of a place or region in terms of its market potential. Previous studies have shown that AVs increase accessibility in peripheral areas whereas urban areas only partially benefit.

Computer Simulated Scenarios

To explore the potential impacts of AVs, several scenarios were conducted using computer simulation following a microsimulation approach that is based on an initial synthetic population (including households, firms, etc.). The progress is simulated by running different sub-models cyclically. In the location choice model agents evaluate where to relocate, considering AV-modifications among other factors.

As in reality, the model accounts for settlement restrictions. If a municipality fills up during the simulation, it can no longer be chosen, and the agents must move to another location. Considering that locations may fill up, results may not always reflect the unconstrainted demand. Therefore, additional sub-scenarios with artificially enlarged building zones (+20%) were conducted.

Population Shifts

The simulations revealed a population shift from urban towards intermediate and rural locations of 8,000 residents p.a. (1‰ of the total population). The six largest swiss cities (Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Winterthur, Zurich) even showed a population shift of 3.1% towards non-urban locations. If, on the other hand, the available settlement surface in urban areas was artificially enlarged, population movements to non-urban areas reduced by 90%.

Sufficient living space in urban areas thus appeared as an efficient way to counter for increasing sprawling tendencies of AV without cutting off anyone from advantages created by AV technology.

Full details in German. The thesis is currently reworked into an English version.

Myra Rotermund (*1987) studied architecture and urban planning at the ETH Zurich and at the UBA Buenos Aires. She has a postgraduate specialisation in economics, finance and law at the University of Zurich (thesis supervision Prof. Axhausen, IVT). Her research interests lie on current social, economic and political topics related to space with special emphasis on the duality of city and periphery. She is working in the private sector.

Link to the Article on Albinen: A Swiss village is paying people £15,000 to move there.

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This article has been published in the following newsletter edition:

40 | Dezember 2018: Technologie beeinflusst Verhalten / Technology Influences Behaviour

  • Induced Demand: Modelling the Potential Impacts of Automated Vehicles in Zurich
  • Robotic Landscapes: Designing Natural and Robotic Formation Processes in Dynamic Terrains
  • Digital Planning Tools and «Focal Practices»
  • Autonomous Vehicles as Reactivators for Peripheral Areas
  • Führungslose Schweizer Raumentwicklung?
Kurzmeldungen
  • Modelling Place-making to Enable the Transformation of Spaces into Places
  • MntPath – Modelling Future Pathways of Mountain Regions
  • Mobility Pricing
  • Smarte Züge ohne Lokführer
Publikationen
  • disP 54/3, October 2018
  • Soil function assessment for Switzerland
  • Towards an Integrative Approach to Spatial Transformation
  • Sozialraum Hochhaus. Nachbarschaft und Wohnalltag in Schweizer Großwohnbauten
  • Spatial modelling of origin-destination commuting flows in Switzerland
Aktuell
  • MAS, DAS und CAS ETH in Raumplanung 2019/21
  • Summer School in Land-System Science
  • Master of Advanced Studies ETH Urban Design 2019/20
  • Ab 2019 leitet Patrick Bonzanigo den MAS Raumplanung ETH
  • 111 BUNKER. Entdecke das verborgene Zürich!
  • ProbandInnen gesucht – Visualisierungen von Landschaften mit Virtual Reality-Brillen
  • Shareland Doctoral Colloquium

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Prof. Dr. Bryan T. Adey
Prof. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen
Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete
Prof. Maria Conen
Prof. Dr. Francesco Corman
Dr. Jennifer Duyne Barenstein
Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard
Prof. Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey
Prof. Dr. Guillaume Habert
Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann
Prof. Hubert Klumpner
Dr. Anastasios Kouvelas
Prof. Freek Persyn
Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid
Prof. Milica Topalovic
EiR PD Dr. Joris Van Wezemael
Prof. em Dr. h. c. Günther Vogt
ETH Wohnforum – ETH CASE

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