Implementation of Solutions Reducing the Number of Cars in Polish Housing Estates—Based on the Experience of the Vauban Estate in Freiburg, Case of the City of Wroclaw

Abstract

The number of cars in Polish housing estates is steadily increasing. Cars park in allocated parking spaces, but also occupy roads, pavements, and even green spaces. As the European experience shows, many countries have had this problem and have been looking for a solution. Due to the fact that Polish cities are at the beginning of the process, which limits the importance of individual transport, all good practices are a valuable source of information. The purpose of this article is to present the possibility of implementing solutions to limit the number of cars in Polish housing estates based on the experience of the Vauban housing estate in Freiburg, Germany. This housing estate was created with the great participation of the local community and one of its postulates was to reduce the use of cars. The methodology involved several consecutive steps. The first stage of the work was a review of the literature on the subject of low-carbon housing. Vauban was chosen as a model project with a sustainability of 20 years. Design solutions to reduce car traffic were analysed. The data collected were transformed into hard (numerical) and soft (descriptive) data, then systematised and catalogued. Based on these guidelines, a model of an estate with a reduced number of cars was created. The final stage of the research was the implementation of the model. The model formulates the most important aspects related to the location of a car-free housing estate and allows one to indicate its potential location in the city. It is a valuable tool for opening up a broad discussion on urban planning, location, and the future of car-free housing estates. The results of the study should be interpreted at two levels: land use and location. The results of the analyses allowed parameters and guidelines to be defined. These guidelines provide a guideline for the development of car-reduced housing estates in future cities. The second set of conclusions concerns the location of a potential car-reduced housing estate. The area of the potential site is shown using the city of Wroclaw, Poland, as an example.