Mobility´s mode patterns and unplanning urban development in La Plata`s city

Abstract

The development’s model for argentine cities it´s been for decades characterized for low density urban expansion, combine recently with densification’s politics for central areas, that far from reverse the expansive process, cause the expulsion of big size households to mono-functional suburbs. Both processes increase the journey demand, causing environmental and social unsustainability. This article analyzes, for La Plata’s case, the household’s mobility practices and the energy consume and emissions involve, in relation to the urban development´s shape. The analyses difference the residential expansion of the city in five areas and relate their journey practices with the household’s size, the energy consume and the pollution involve in this practices. Results show that the major energy-environmental effect doesn´t responded to the population´s mobility’s patterns as much as to the expansive urban development´s model because: (1) the increase to the total journeys to the centre; and (2) the increase of journey’s daily distances. The conclusions include guidelines for comprehensive problematisation of sustainable mobility and urban development in cities and suggestions for measures for mobility’s social and environmental improvement.