Accessibility patterns: Bavaria Case Study

This case study covers the Federal State of Bavaria located in the southern part of Germany. Bavaria includes very different types of regions, ranging from the high-density monocentric agglomeration of Munich and medium-sized polycentric agglomerations, to semi-urban surroundings of the agglomerations and to rural structures with small and medium-sized cities which include also mountainous areas, in particular the Alps. The spatial differentiation of Bavaria from the point of view of accessibility very much depends on the type of destination opportunity under consideration. Accessibility of opportunities of the basic needs seems rather balanced. However, accessibility of higher level services such as hospitals is distributed across the region less evenly. For such facilities, there are only some hundred locations in Bavaria, and those are primarily located in cities that have a higher position in the city hierarchy. Between those central places, there are often extensive areas with clearly lower accessibility. This is especially pronounced when accessibility by public transport is concerned.