Vulnerability to Motor Fuel Price Increases: Socio-Spatial Patterns in Italy

Abstract

Environmental taxes and oil market fluctuations can increase road fuel prices significantly and are likely to play a big role in the future. This raises social justice issues, as some low-income households rely on cars for access to services and opportunities but struggle to afford related expenses. The impacts of fuel price increases are unevenly spatially distributed, as shown by transport, planning and urban research. We investigate spatial patterns of vulnerability to fuel price increases in Italy, a country where the problem is particularly pronounced due to high motorisation rate relative to income, and high fuel prices. We define vulnerability as the combination of high exposure (high car use), high sensitivity (low income) and low adaptive capacity (high car dependence). Based on municipality-level data on motorisation and the journey to work from the 2011 Italian Census and official income tax revenue data for 2012 (as a proxy for income) we derive a composite indicator of vulnerability. The results show: i) a co-location of low-income and high car use on the periphery of many Italian city regions; ii) stark interregional differences, with lower income levels in the South driving high levels of vulnerability, despite lower levels of car ownership and use.