Multilocality affects large parts of society. The main motives are education, work, leisure, relationships or a combination of these. Due to the diversity of characteristics, the number of secondary residences mostly used for Austria covers only a part of the multilocals. However, the spatially heterogeneous spatial distribution and development of the number of secondary residences underline the necessity to fundamentally take into account the diversity of spatial conditions when dealing with multilocal lifestyles. Multilocal lifestyles also impact rural areas differently. They can be both challenges and opportunities, and they can reinforce existing trends (for example, increasing land consumption). In order to prevent or counteract negative effects and to use potentials, multilocality should be considered in planning practice, especially in regional planning and development.
This study builds on important basic research and the current state of discourse in spatial science and planning practice. It complements by a comparative approach with four study areas representing selected rural areas in Austria. In addition, a broader spectrum of multilocal lifestyles is included and the associated need for action for different fields of spatial planning is made visible.
In the five fields of action housing, mobility, infrastructure, work and participation, concrete possibilities for action were conceived that respond to current needs and are oriented to existing planning processes. These form the core result of the study and are explained in the first part of the report. The second part contains two complementary in-depth studies. In-depth 1 captures the current state of research around multilocality and multilocally living, supplemented from empirical work in the study areas. In-depth study 2 deals with multilocality in rural regions of Austria and planning levels of action in this context. Based on the structural analysis of the study areas and the empirical data, challenges and opportunities for rural regions resulting from multilocality are derived. |