Transport And Development In The Third World

Policy-making for urban transport and planning of economies in the developing world present major challenges for countries facing rapid urbanisation and rampant motorisation, alongside growing commitments to sustainability. These challenges include: coping with financial deficits, providing for the poor, dealing meaningfully with global warming and energy shortages, addressing traffic congestion and related land use issues, adopting green technologies and adjusting equitably to the impacts of globalisation. This book presents a contemporary analysis of these challenges and new workable responses to the urban transport problems they spawn.

It is widely acknowledged that transport is a necessary condition for development to occur. Transport issues have become highly contentious and politicised. This volume presents a balanced review of transport provision and the development process in the Third World. Providing a comprehensive survey of the range of transport modes and forms utilised in rural, urban and international contexts, the book examines the development implications of such choices, together with appropriate policies to address transport problems in the Developing World. This is a stimulating and provocative text. Its distinctive structure and logic challenge conventional wisdoms, and raise key issues seldom addressed in transport courses.

This volume presents a balanced review of transport provision and the development process in the Third World, and provides a comprehensive survey of possible transport solutions and their implications.

Cities within the developing world experience a form of urban development which is different to those in more industrialised countries. Rates of growth are usually much more dramatic, housing and transport are often provided informally, and institutional support for urban management is also much weaker. The crux of this book, first published in 1990, lies in the idea that urban transport planning cannot be viewed in isolation from this wider development context. Making special reference to a number of countries, including Brazil, India and Indonesia, chapters discuss problems of urban transport planning, deficiencies in the theory and practice of conventional transport planning, and the emerging alternatives in the countries under examination. This work addresses problems that are still of great concern to urban policy planners, professionals and academics, as well as students from the fields of development studies, urban geography and planning, architecture and civil engineering.

For more than three decades investment in the transport sector has been a priority for developing country governments. With a few exceptions, roads have accounted for the major part of these investments. The explicit, and often articulated, assumption upon which the decision to allocate such large sums of money to road transport has been made is that road transport and development are inextricably linked. The implicit, and rarely articulated assumption is that the provision of suitable roads will lead to the operation of an adequate level of road transport services. If roads do not actually produce economic development, it has been argued, they certainly play a major role. This belief in the ben-eficial effects of roads is not wholly unsubstantiated. Clearly the provision of some form of access is vital for the development of the rural economy. Nevertheless, the studies carried out over the last 10-15 years on the impact of highway investment have sounded a cautionary note. George W. Wilson, writing in the concluding chapter of the Brookings Institution studies on transport and development, suggested that* 'A much more sceptical attitude towards transport appears essential and far more attention needs to be devoted to the set of circumstances surrounding expansion of transport capacity'. 1 The suggestion of a more restrained attitude reflected a growing concern that transport, and in particular roads, was only one factor amongst a large number that needed to be integrated for effective development. The concern to see road transport in a wider context partly explains the move towards the evaluation of the social, as well as strictly economic, benefits of road construction.

Transport infrastructure is crucial to connect developing countries and help them to boost trade, growth and regional integration. This is because cross-border or long-distance roads and railways as well as international ports and airports are needed to move products and people around in a ...