Uplatnění dopravní sociologie v regionální geografii

Abstract

The transport plays one of the key roles in the life of the present-day society. Within one day, everybody usually travels somewhere several times, be that to work, school, shops, looking for entertainment or anywhere else. The location of the places a person visits, their type and the selected transport mode show a lot about the person’s lifestyle. The housing location often strongly influences this style, and vice versa, the inhabitants’ lifestyle shapes the spatial structure of the locality. This poses a question how the housing location influences the transport behaviour of the inhabitants and how this transport behaviour is reflected in the land use of municipalities and cities. Modern lifestyle trends significantly influence spatial structure of municipalities; however, this is not always a positive phenomenon. One may observe creation of barriers, impeding or preventing regional development, conflicts between groups of different lifestyles, assertion of unilaterally advantageous solutions, non-observance of the sustainability principles and many other lapses, whose accumulation may impact negatively the development of the region for years. Conversely, by creating a suitable multi-functional backbone structure, in particular the transport structure, it is possible to create an environment that stimulates development. However, during its planning, it is necessary to take into account the mobility of individual groups of inhabitants and the social inclusion conditioned thereby.