Journal of Transport and Land Use

NIMBY effect algorithm for railway construction in functional urban areas: A Polish case study

Ada Wolny-Kucińska

University of Gdańsk

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8571-2776

Agnieszka Dawidowicz

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8445-3095

Marta Gross

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8599-351X

Małgorzata Dudzińska

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1140-0435

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2025.2747

Keywords: functional urban areas, not in my backyard, suburbanization, railway investment

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Abstract

The limitation of land causes conflicts over how it is used, particularly in functional urban areas. Although Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) effects are often associated with established residential neighborhoods, they may also arise in rapidly developing suburban and peri-urban zones, where transport investments intersect with existing settlements and ongoing land-use change. Due to their specific nature, projects for new railway lines are more likely to receive a negative reception, because they can adversely affect property values, cause buyouts and expropriations, and introduce significant changes to a settlement’s spatial layout. The feasibility of different infrastructure project variants could be affected by varying levels of risk. Therefore, the occurrence of the NIMBY phenomenon necessitates a precise, standardized approach to its assessment. For this reason, the main aim of this study is to develop an algorithm to assess the scale of NIMBY responses for railway construction investments in densely populated Functional Urban Area (FUA) commuting zones, involving multicriteria spatial analysis. The algorithm is tested in the selected Łomża FUA railway construction project located in northeastern Poland. The project involves both the restoration of the railway line and its construction in a new location. This study highlights the analyses of spatial structural change that are crucial for understanding local resistance, since in suburbanizing areas, the intensity of NIMBY is strongly correlated with demographic shifts and patterns of land-use transformation. The Łomża FUA case confirms this.

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