Settlements along Main Road Axes: Blessing or Curse? Evaluating the Barrier Effect in a Small Greek Settlement

Savvas Emmanouilidis, Socrates Basbas (), Alexandros Sdoukopoulos and Ioannis Politis
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Savvas Emmanouilidis: School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Socrates Basbas: School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Alexandros Sdoukopoulos: School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Ioannis Politis: School of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-20

Abstract: Being the heart of every human settlement, the road network constitutes a significant component of the built environment that serves the accessibility and mobility needs and supports economic activities. Despite its positive role, the road network, in some cases, due to increased geometric and functional characteristics, can act as a barrier to the movement of vulnerable road users, thus fragmenting the urban space and creating the phenomenon of the “barrier effect”. The barrier effect is considered detrimental to the mobility of vulnerable users, causing delays or even cancellation of trips, increasing collision risk, limiting access to services, posing negative impacts on public health, and loosening social ties. In this context, the current paper focuses on a settlement in Greece (Dispilio) developed along two national roads and comprehensively evaluates the barrier effect. More specifically, the presented methodological approach attempts to investigate the actual and the perceived dimension of this phenomenon by applying well-established metrics and landscape indicators, such as the effective mesh size, and conducting a questionnaire survey, respectively. The overall research results highlighted interesting findings regarding the intensity of the barrier effect in the examined area and outlined some critical interventions that could be implemented in similar cases.

Keywords: barrier effect; community severance; fragmentation; effective mesh size; extra travel distance; questionnaire survey; Greece (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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