Transport Developments And Innovations In An Evolving World

The technological developments as well as urban future of an information age where the development of ICT sets the pace and options is explored in this book. The text examines the current state of daily travelling, and highlights the achievable impact and acceptability of transport policy measures. Freight transport is discussed from an industry viewpoint. In addition, the text presents various innovative approaches to rearranging current freight transport networks. Methods to evaluate the societal consensus related to the spatial development - linked to transport infrastructures - are also described. Still further, the text discuses methods for assessing spatial planning policies.

This book contains select keynote and resource papers, as well as workshop reports, from the 12th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research that was organized by the International Association for Travel Behaviour Research (IATBR) in Jaipur, India during December 13-18, 2009.

One aspect of the new economy is a transition to a networked society, and the emergence of a highly interconnected, interdependent and complex system of networks to move people, goods and information. An example of this is the in creasing reliance of networked systems (e. g. , air transportation networks, electric power grid, maritime transport, etc. ) on telecommunications and information in frastructure. Many of the networks that evolved today have an added complexity in that they have both a spatial structure – i. e. , they are located in physical space but also an a spatial dimension brought on largely by their dependence on infor mation technology. They are also often just one component of a larger system of geographically integrated and overlapping networks operating at different spatial levels. An understanding of these complexities is imperative for the design of plans and policies that can be used to optimize the efficiency, performance and safety of transportation, telecommunications and other networked systems. In one sense, technological advances along with economic forces that encourage the clustering of activities in space to reduce transaction costs have led to more efficient network structures. At the same time the very properties that make these networks more ef ficient have also put them at a greater risk for becoming disconnected or signifi cantly disruptedwh en super connected nodes are removed either intentionally or through a targeted attack.

Over the last two centuries, the development of modern transportation has significantly transformed human life. The main theme of this book is to understand the complexity of transportation development and model the process of network growth including its determining factors, which may be topological, morphological, temporal, technological, economic, managerial, social or political. Using multidimensional concepts and methods, the authors develop a holistic framework to represent network growth as an open and complex process with models that demonstrate in a scientific way how numerous independent decisions made by entities such as travelers, property owners, developers, and public jurisdictions could result in a coherent network of facilities on the ground. Models are proposed from innovative perspectives including self-organization, degeneration, and sequential connection to interpret the evolutionary growth of transportation networks in explicit consideration of independent economic and regulatory initiatives. Employing these models, the authors survey a series of topics ranging from network hierarchy and topology to first mover advantage. The authors demonstrate, with a wide spectrum of empirical and theoretical evidence, that network growth follows a path that is not only logical in retrospect, but also predictable and manageable from a planning perspective. In the larger scheme of innovative transportation planning, this book provides a re-consideration of conventional planning practice and sets the stage for further development on the theory and practice of the next-generation, evolutionary planning approach in transportation, making it of interest to scholars and practitioners alike in the field of transportation .

Urban transport systems need to be analyzed from various perspectives: the offer on one hand, the demand on the other hand, but also their negative externalities (risks of transport systems). These three dimensions are rarely apprehended in an integrated perspective. This book provides a large collection of chapters dealing with these specific dimensions, each written by recognized specialists in their domain, and articulates them in an integrated way.

This Handbook is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the explanation of economic growth in the space economy. . . The editors and the individual contributors are to be congratulated on producing such an important collection of review essays which is destined to become one of the definitive reference books on the subject. John McCombie, Scienze Regionali . . . offers a valuable up-to-date overview of many aspects of these important theoretical developments. Peter Wood, Environment & Planning B The book contains a wealth of leading-edge material on regional growth and development issues and provides a good historical review of the dominant mainstream theories. This Handbook will be a valuable asset to any graduate student, researcher, regional planner, or policymaker interested in regional economic issues. Laura Lamb, Review of Regional Studies Regional economics an established discipline for several decades has gone through a rapid pace of change in the past decade and several new perspectives have emerged. At the same time the methodology has shown surprising development. This volume brings together contributions looking at new pathways in regional economics, written by many well-known international scholars. The most advanced theories, measurement methods and policy issues in regional growth are given in-depth treatment. The focus here is to collect cutting-edge theories explaining regional growth and local development. The authors highlight the recent advances in theories, the normative potentialities of these theories and the cross-fertilization of ideas among regional economists and mainstream economists. Theories of regional growth and development need to be able to interpret, more than ever, the way in which regions achieve a role in the international division of labour and, more importantly, the way in which regions can maintain this role over time. Topics covered include: regional growth and development policies and measurement methods; development theories of innovation, knowledge and space, and regional production factors; and growth theories and space. This book will be a source of reference and information for both scholars and students in the area of regional economics.

This book analyzes the social capital of the growing knowledge economy, from both theoretical and empirical points of view. The theoretical section discusses social capital as an economic concept, developing a theory of the social capital of the enterprise. The empirical section compares aspects of the social capital of three different socio-economic systems: the US, Japan and Sweden. The book discusses a number of issues for further research.

The twenty-first century will be the age of global interaction and organized patterns of networks. This important book addresses the strategic dimensions of networks, especially in transportation and information communication technology in Europe. The authors examine the challenges brought about by European unification and accession, through which a coherent and efficient European network system will need to be implemented. The topics addressed include the emergence of new network structures and strategies, the implications of European integration policies for network operations and developments, and the assessment of network synergy effects.