The potential of the mobility transition to tackle the housing crisis

Kurzfassung

Cities around the globe are facing a severe shortage of housing. My research examines the potential of traffic transformation (TT) to redistribute space of off-street automobile infrastructure (OSAI) like petrol stations, garages, car dealerships, car rentals and parking infrastructure, in favour of flats. My work assessed the current land consumption and investigated how much of this land could become redundant and re-used for housing if TT takes place. The approach of my work is transdisciplinary along the interface of urban and transport planning, using the case of Berlin and applying a status-quo analysis, a spatial analysis and an assessment of policy tools. By using a geo information system (GIS), I assessed the status-quo of space consumption of OSAI. By applying various layers of current urban planning parameters of Berlin (e. g. building density), my spatial analysis proofs the usability by housing of the land which is currently occupied by OSAI. If TT takes place, over 50% of land occupied by OSAI will become redundant due to the modal shift and shrinking motorization. In Berlin, potentially up to 143,145 flat units could be built. The construction target could be reached for up to 7 years and up to 257,661 people profit. To lever this potential, I identified the following five policy recommendations: 1: Statistics of OSAI 2: Awareness Raising of the Potential of TT for the Housing Market, 3: Mixed land-use planning, 4: Adaptable OSAI Architecture, 5: Pre-emption of OSAI for Cities