Project PLUTO

The project PLUTO stems from the integration of two projects proposed for the Wirtschaftskammerpreis 2006 "Economic Benefits of coordinated land use and transport planning in the region Vienna - Bratislava" and "Disaggregated growth model for the Vienna-Bratislava corridor" by Paul Pfaffenbichler and Elissavet Pontikakis. Both proposals deal with modelling of the effects of transport and land use planning in the metropolitan region Vienna - Bratislava. The two models, the integrated, dynamic land use and transport model MARS and a cellular automata based model of the corridor of the commuter rail line S7, work on different levels of aggregation. Their combination offers many synergies concerning as well potential research questions as data collection.

The first work package analyses the data requirements and defines the interfaces between the two models. Additionally necessary data will be collected and the models will be set up and calibrated. The second work package analyses the overall effects of land us and transport planning strategies in the region Vienna - Bratislava. The main focus will be on the question of economic benefits and dis-benefits of different strategies of cooperation versus competition. MARS will predict among others traffic volumes, working place and residential migration processes within the region. The results of work package two form the framework and major input for work package three, the detailed modelling of land use developments within the corridor of the commuter railway line S7 by a dis-aggregated cellular automata model. This model is used for a detailed prediction of the land use developments within the corridor. A spatial-temporal representation of output indicators like number of residents or workplaces with animated GIS maps will form one of the major outputs of work package two and three.

Economic relevance:

Due to the EU accession of Slovakia and the connected long term disappearance of all barriers to trade on the one hand and the spatial proximity on the other hand, the integration of the region Vienna - Bratislava is inevitable. This bipolar situation raises the fear that Vienna might loose economic power to Bratislava. The main objective of the proposed project is to show suitable cooperation strategies from which both cities can profit economically. The results of the project can be used to see existing and planned cooperation projects in a broader view and to utilise their full potential. Furthermore they can support the call of industry and commerce associations for a more intense coordination between the two cities in negotiations with politicians. The tools developed in this project have the potential to assist businesses in their location decisions.