The environmental effect of car-free housing: A case in Vienna

Abstract

A case-control study of the car-free model housing project in Vienna was conducted to evaluate whether people living in this settlement have more 'sustainable lifestyles' than people living in comparable buildings in Vienna. Another aim was to identify the lifestyle characteristics and household activities which significantly influence the environmental impact of the residents of the car-free housing project and a control group. The control group, referred to as the reference settlement, was chosen from a nearby building complex, with similar characteristics, but without the car-free feature. Household consumption patterns were estimated based on interviews in combination with data from the Austrian consumer expenditure survey and the national accounts. The evaluation of household environmental impacts uses emissions estimates from the Austrian national accounting matrices including environmental accounts and data from life-cycle assessments.Households from the car-free settlement have substantially lower environmental impacts in the categories of ground transportation and energy use; their CO 2 emissions of these two categories are less than 50% of those living in the reference settlement. The households in the car-free settlement have somewhat higher emissions in the categories air transport, nutrition, and 'other' consumption, reflecting the higher income per-capita. As a result, the CO 2 emissions are only slightly lower than in the reference settlement, but the emissions intensity is 20% lower. Both household groups have significantly lower environmental impacts than the Austrian average reflecting less car use and cleaner heating energy in Vienna.

Realising car-free developments within compact cities

“…The active role of the residents and local businesses cannot be ignored. Studies in Europe show that residents living in car-free development tend not only to be much more concerned about environmental issues and considered themselves more eco-friendly but also share stronger social cohesion, treasure a feeling of solidarity within the neighbourhood, having good neighbourly relationships and willing to help neighbours (Ornetzeder et al, 2008). The same seems to apply to Discovery Bay.…”

Eight Tons of Material Footprint—Suggestion for a Resource Cap for Household Consumption in Finland

“…-Car-free households studied in Vienna use public transport while reference households use a car as basic means of transport. Yet, the total distances travelled and the flights made by carfree households are only slightly higher than in the reference group [95]; -Car-sharing can reduce the need of owning and using private cars by providing a possibility of car use when it's especially necessary. [96]; -Private cars in their present use and amount can hardly be seen as a broad solution to achieve a sustainable material footprint for mobility.…”

Urban sustainability and individual behaviour

“…Awareness has been argued to be a relevant factor for attitudes [20,21], as well as the importance of certain attributes of the respective technology [20]. Gatersleben et al [22] for instance point out that the perceived impact of one's behaviour will contribute to forming a negative or positive attitude.…”

“…Thus, it has repeatedly been shown to relate to behaviour [2,22,[25][26][27]. Household size has been related with domestic per capita energy consumption [20,22,25], and held the strongest explanatory power for water and energy consumption as well as negative dwelling and travel behaviour [2]. The level of income has also been shown to negatively relate to sustainable behaviour [20,22,25,26,28].…”