the highest transport volume. The quick growth of cities/towns, the development of
urbanization in other words, is closely connected with large investments in traffic
infrastructure, mainly roads (Vepr ˇek 2000, 2009).
Urbanization is an important phenomenon of the last 50 years which has
occurred in most countries of the world and has resulted in larger cities, even
megacities. It is not the case in the Czech Republic. Urbanization is accompanied
by many problems in the environment and human life. It is the reason why urban
development is analyzed by many authors. One of the most important impacts of the
political change in the Czech Republic is the growth of road traffic intensity, which
is a source of increasing noise and emissions since other sources of emissions –
industry and heating – were substantially lowered by protecting devices and
changes in heating sources.
Urbanism is influenced by many indicators. This paper deals with some of them
under two different political regimes. The political regimes in the Czech Republic
differ in prevailing parts in the socio-economic situation of a high number of the
population. Analyses of urban development under different political regimes were
not publicized very often. Anthony (2014) took into account political influence and
analyzed the 5 largest cities of 123 nations from 1960 to 2005. He focused on
political determinants on urban population distributions, tested and evaluated four
hypotheses related to the length of capital status as well as colonial, democratic, and
communist experiences. The main findings suggest that the length of a nation’s
largest city’s capital status is positively associated with urban primacy. Conversely,
nations with longer democratic or communist regimes have lower levels of urban
primacy while the results from colonial experience are curvilinear. China is not a
country where a sharp political change has occurred, however, economic development is significant. Yen and Wu (2014) show in their study for 1999–2009 period
that 286 Chinese prefecture-level cities with higher real estate investment pushed
towards higher urbanization. Political influences can be found in Newton and
Schuermans (2013) who studied housing, spatial planning and urban development
in post-apartheid South Africa and found an important improvement in housing
conditions carried out by various bodies. Local political changes since 1960s
influencing the relation between transport and urban development in four cities
in Switzerland on one side and France on the other side are described in
Gallez et al. (2013). They analyzed the contents of master plans, principal technical
solutions and projects that have been implemented, and the means of inter-sectorial
coordination used. Stead (2001) found that more socio-economic reasons than landuse characteristics had an impact on travel conditions. These were mainly socioeconomic conditions which changed in post-communist countries thanks to new
political regimes.
Urban development in this paper was analyzed by 13 indicators in relation to
road traffic intensity as an important impact of development of urban areas under
different political regimes (Halounova ´ and Holubec 2014). Many authors have
studied this topic under a given political situation from the transport energy
consumption view (Kitamura et al. 1997; Næss and Sandberg 1996; Handy
1992). Litman and Steele (2013) describes the methods for evaluating how transport planning decisions influence land use – and how land use planning decisions
88
L. Halounova ´ and V. Holubec
urbanization in other words, is closely connected with large investments in traffic
infrastructure, mainly roads (Vepr ˇek 2000, 2009).
Urbanization is an important phenomenon of the last 50 years which has
occurred in most countries of the world and has resulted in larger cities, even
megacities. It is not the case in the Czech Republic. Urbanization is accompanied
by many problems in the environment and human life. It is the reason why urban
development is analyzed by many authors. One of the most important impacts of the
political change in the Czech Republic is the growth of road traffic intensity, which
is a source of increasing noise and emissions since other sources of emissions –
industry and heating – were substantially lowered by protecting devices and
changes in heating sources.
Urbanism is influenced by many indicators. This paper deals with some of them
under two different political regimes. The political regimes in the Czech Republic
differ in prevailing parts in the socio-economic situation of a high number of the
population. Analyses of urban development under different political regimes were
not publicized very often. Anthony (2014) took into account political influence and
analyzed the 5 largest cities of 123 nations from 1960 to 2005. He focused on
political determinants on urban population distributions, tested and evaluated four
hypotheses related to the length of capital status as well as colonial, democratic, and
communist experiences. The main findings suggest that the length of a nation’s
largest city’s capital status is positively associated with urban primacy. Conversely,
nations with longer democratic or communist regimes have lower levels of urban
primacy while the results from colonial experience are curvilinear. China is not a
country where a sharp political change has occurred, however, economic development is significant. Yen and Wu (2014) show in their study for 1999–2009 period
that 286 Chinese prefecture-level cities with higher real estate investment pushed
towards higher urbanization. Political influences can be found in Newton and
Schuermans (2013) who studied housing, spatial planning and urban development
in post-apartheid South Africa and found an important improvement in housing
conditions carried out by various bodies. Local political changes since 1960s
influencing the relation between transport and urban development in four cities
in Switzerland on one side and France on the other side are described in
Gallez et al. (2013). They analyzed the contents of master plans, principal technical
solutions and projects that have been implemented, and the means of inter-sectorial
coordination used. Stead (2001) found that more socio-economic reasons than landuse characteristics had an impact on travel conditions. These were mainly socioeconomic conditions which changed in post-communist countries thanks to new
political regimes.
Urban development in this paper was analyzed by 13 indicators in relation to
road traffic intensity as an important impact of development of urban areas under
different political regimes (Halounova ´ and Holubec 2014). Many authors have
studied this topic under a given political situation from the transport energy
consumption view (Kitamura et al. 1997; Næss and Sandberg 1996; Handy
1992). Litman and Steele (2013) describes the methods for evaluating how transport planning decisions influence land use – and how land use planning decisions
88
L. Halounova ´ and V. Holubec