Transport Geography

Intercontinental Embarrassment for Berlin: Grand Opening of BER Berlin-Brandenburg Airport Delayed (in Italian)

by Denis Bocquet

Published in: Il Giornale dell'Architettura, n.106, p.14, June 2012

A reaction to the announcement of the impossibility for the authorities in charge of the construction and management... more A reaction to the announcement of the impossibility for the authorities in charge of the construction and management of the new BER Berlin-Brandenburg airport to open on time.

Key words:
BBI, BER, Schönefeld, Tegel, Berlin, Germany, Germania, aeroporto, delay, fiasco, Willy Brandt, Rainer Schwarz, Klaus Wowereit, Matthias Platzeck, Bosch, Siemens, Hartmut Mehdorn, SPD, CDU, SXF, TXL, One World, Air Berlin, Lufthansa, Easyjet,

Lo stato della pianificazione dei trasporti alla scala regionale

by marcucci edoardo

Container/Containment. Die irdischen Grenzen der Globalisierung <2012>

by Joerg Potthast

TUMULT - Schriften zur Verkehrswissenschaft Nr. 38, 140 pp.

Introduction, pp. 8-12

together with Alexander Klose

introduces a collection of essays and art works on containers and containment by Paul Edwards, Benjamin Steininger,... more introduces a collection of essays and art works on containers and containment by Paul Edwards, Benjamin Steininger, Georg Uhlemann, Walter Seitter, Armin Monsorno, Monika Dommann, Jörg Potthast, Lieven de Cauter, Adi Hoesle, Yannick Barthe, Judith Kröll/Michael Guggenheim/Bernd Kräftner, Insa Härtel/Olaf Knellessen

Regional cooperation and the regionalization of air travel in Central New England

by Julie Cidell

Published in 'Journal of Transport Geography' in 2006

The regionalization of air traffic in Central New England since 1995, shifting traffic from Boston to regional... more The regionalization of air traffic in Central New England since 1995, shifting traffic from Boston to regional airports, has come about as a response to factors unique to that region within the US. However, the results of regional cooperation between airport operators and the concomitant regionalization of air traffic are applicable to any region that is trying to increase metropolitan airport capacity by making greater use of smaller, regional airports. These results include benefits for travelers, ‘‘spreading the burden’’ of airport neighbors, and replicating the costs and benefits of air travel over a greater area.

Missed Opportunities: The Restructuring of Berlin's Airport System and the City's Position in International Airline Networks

by Julie Cidell

Co-authored with Heike Alberts and John Bowen; published in 'Regional Studies' in 2009

After German reunification, Berlin was expected by many to become one of Europe’s foremost world cities, but that has... more After German reunification, Berlin was expected by many to become one of Europe’s foremost world cities, but that has not happened, partly because Berlin remains no more than a secondary hub in the global airline industry. This paper traces the history of airports in Berlin, examines the city’s stature in international air transportation networks, and describes the long planning process for the new Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport. Although Berlin’s history is unique, it is argued that larger economic and political forces affecting all airports have fostered the city’s continued marginalization within the world’s air transportation system.

Air transportation, airports, and the discourses and practices of globalization

by Julie Cidell

Published in 'Urban Geography' in 2006

The material processes of globalization are both enabled by, and place ever-growing demands on, the provision of... more The material processes of globalization are both enabled by, and place ever-growing demands on, the provision of transportation infrastructure and technology, particularly in major cities that function as nodes in global networks. However, the cities where such infrastructure is provided are not merely passively affected by the processes of globalization, but help to constitute those processes, particularly through debates over infrastructure expansion. This paper examines the connections between transportation and globalization via case studies of two major U.S. airports, showing how history, governance, airline service, and regional economic situation all play a role in mediating the effects of the processes of globalization on individual places, and in shaping those processes in turn.

Concentration and decentralization: The new geography of freight distribution in US metropolitan areas

by Julie Cidell

Published in the Journal of Transport Geography in 2010

This paper examines the suburbanization of warehousing and trucking activity within US metropolitan areas between the... more This paper examines the suburbanization of warehousing and trucking activity within US metropolitan areas between the 1980s and the present using Gini indices as a measure of concentration. While historical work exists on the relocation of transportation and warehousing activity to suburban locations, there has been little to document the most recent shifts in warehousing and logistics. This research does so via spatial analysis of Economic Census data, finding that while most US metropolitan areas have experienced decentralization in the spatial distribution of freight-related activity, there is also some growth in core counties, indicating that a more complex process is going on than simple suburbanization.

Flows and pauses in the urban logistics landscape: the municipal regulation of shipping container mobilities

by Julie Cidell

Forthcoming in 'Mobilities'

The mobilities turn has demonstrated the importance of the social, cultural, and political implications of travel for... more The mobilities turn has demonstrated the importance of the social, cultural, and political implications of travel for a variety of modes, though largely focused on people and vehicles, not freight.  The transport of goods by shipping container has become the predominant means of freight transport since the 1960s, shaping places from port cities to rural distribution centers.  This paper uses two North American case studies to explore temporary immobilities or pauses in the flows of shipping containers, showing that the problems containers pose to the places they pass through are not a function of the objects themselves, but their state of mobility.  Pauses are important as a category of mobility because of the consequences of regulations that attempt to eliminate or redirect them.

Distribution Centers among the Rooftops: The Global Logistics Network Meets the Suburban Spatial Imaginary

by Julie Cidell

Forthcoming in 'International Journal of Urban and Regional Research'

Changes in shipping over recent decades have altered the geography of freight transportation in the USA in a number of... more Changes in shipping over recent decades have altered the geography of freight transportation in the USA in a number of ways. In particular, significant volumes of freight traffic are now traveling inland to the Ohio River valley and the Midwest. Within metropolitan areas here, large amounts of land on the suburban fringe are being developed as logistics or distribution centers in municipalities that are experiencing otherwise typical greenfield suburban growth. This article explores this development through a case study in the southwest suburbs of Chicago that are experiencing rapid growth in both population and freight distribution activity. Here, in a so-called global era of placeless flows, land use and economic development continue to be based largely on a spatial imaginary of bounded and discrete territories, with long-term environmental and economic consequences for the political units in question.

lojistik

by Erdal Akpınar

Boots are Made for Walking: Interactions across Physical and Social Space in Infrastructure-Poor Regions

by Petr Matous ペトゥル・マトウシュ

Petr Matous, Yasuyuki Todo, Dagne Mojo

While detailed data are available on people’s travel behavior in industrialized countries, little is known about the... more While detailed data are available on people’s travel behavior in industrialized countries, little is known about the spatiality of activities of those living in vast infrastructure-poor areas in the developing world where walking is still the dominant form of transport. We have interviewed 297 randomly selected inhabitants of Tiyo District, Ethiopia, and by random name cues identified 4158 individuals who are a representative cross-section of everyone the informants knew. Consequently, we inquired about the distance to these individuals, frequency of contacting them, and the mode of contact. Half of the respondents' social contacts lived within 15-minute walking distance and the interviewed inhabitants contacted 98% of all people that they knew only by walking and meeting face-to-face. After examining the determinants of the size, density, and geographical extent of the inhabitants’ personal networks, we employed multilevel analysis to explore the relevance of physical and social distance as well as personal characteristics for frequency of interaction. We found that in addition to the strong impact of walking time (-), common organization membership (-), the same religious affiliation (+), kinship (+), and patience (-) also predict the frequency of meetings. From this we present comparisons of the variables' relative effects and conclude with practical implications.

Keywords: Distance, personal networks, meeting frequency, travel behavior, multilevel analysis, infrastructure-poor regions

Matous P., Todo Y., Mojo D. (2011) "Boots are Made for Walking: Interactions across Physical and Social Space in Infrastructure-Poor Regions", paper presented at Frontiers in Transportation 2011, October 20-22, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada.

Local transport and social representations: Challenging the assumptions for sustainable tourism

by Janet Dickinson

Dickinson, J.E. & Dickinson, J. 2006 Local transport and social representations: challenging the assumptions for sustainable tourism, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14, 2, 192-208.

The dilemma of how to manage tourism related traffic at rural destinations in the UK is examined using a social... more The dilemma of how to manage tourism related traffic at rural destinations in the UK is examined using a social representation perspective. In transport initiatives, alternatives to the car typically gain low use levels and their perceived success is poor, while measures to limit car access and use are negatively perceived by the public. Traditional transport planning is based on analysis of objective data, such as road capacity, and
measures of individual attitudes that predict how people will respond to a transport initiative. However, studies show that people do not behave in predictable patterns related to their attitudes. Travel is a social and cultural phenomenon and the social and cultural assumptions that underlie reported attitudes to transport have not been investigated. This paper poses a challenge to the assumptions of current research and
proposes an approach that explores the multiplicity of social realities that underpin our attitudes towards transport, tourism and subsequent behaviour.Areview of initiatives and transport research in this field examines how representations of transport and tourism are created, evolved and accepted into people’s thinking about transport. Directions and approaches for future research are proposed together with directions for sustainable transport at destinations.

Planning approaches to achieve a more sustainable travel industry for tourism in the UK - a case study.

by Janet Dickinson

Robbins, R., Brackstone, J., Dickinson, J.E. (2011) Planning approaches to achieve a more sustainable travel industry for tourism in the UK - a case study. European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, 11(3), 320-333.

Using a Moving Window SVMs Classification to Infer Travel Mode from GPS Data

by Adel Bolbol

Bolbol, A. Cheng, T and Haworth, J, 2011. Using a Moving Window SVMs Classification to Infer Travel Mode from GPS Data. Geocomputation 2011, UCL, July.

Understanding travel behaviour is important for studying tourist activity, the quality of life, a strike’s impact on... more Understanding travel behaviour is important for studying tourist activity, the quality of life, a strike’s impact on transportation and other environmental impacts. However, it is a challenge to model travel behaviour due to its complexity and diversity. Attempts have been made to infer meaningful information about travel behaviour from positional data obtained from sensors such as GPS. Among these types of information is the travel mode (e.g. cycling, walking, bus and so forth). This inference could largely replace or complete a lot of the feedback required by users when labelling and tagging their travel diaries.

Previous machine learning (ML) approaches that attempt to derive travel modes from GPS data suffer from design decisions that limit their accuracy and flexibility. For example, Zheng et al. (2008) compares different machine learning methods such as Decision Tree and Bayesian Net to segment tracks into partitions of different travel modes. However, the process depends on real-life assumptions that could differ from one person to another. Liao et al. (2007) uses Hierarchical Conditional Random Fields to infer the travel mode from GPS fixes taking the user’s context into consideration. It achieves a good accuracy; however, it relies heavily on temporal features such as the duration and time of day, which again differs from one person to another. Other methods use Neural Networks to do a similar inference (Gonzalez et al., 2008); however, Neural Networks deliver multiple solutions associated with local minima and for this reason may not be robust over different samples.

In this work we attempt to identify travel modes from sparse GPS data, without information or assumptions about the user’s context which is usually needed in other approaches. We use Support Vector Machines (SVM) to perform the inference from velocity values obtained from GPS data. Due to its high quality of out-of-sample generalization and ease of training, SVMs provide far beyond the capacities of traditional ML methods used in previous research. However, SVMs depend on data with multiple attributes to work best. To overcome this, we use a moving window that classifies instances of data sequences. We complement this by using logical filters that apply a transition matrix.

Slow travel: issues for tourism and climate change

by Janet Dickinson

Dickinson, J.E., Lumsdon, L., Robbins, D. (2011) Slow travel: issues for tourism and climate change, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 19(3), 281-300.

This paper analyses the eclectic evolution of slow travel, examines key features and interpretations, and develops a... more This paper analyses the eclectic evolution of slow travel, examines key features and interpretations, and develops a slow travel framework as an alternative way of conceptualising holidays in the future. The paper focuses on slow travel’s potential to respond to the challenges of climatic change: travel currently accounts for 50- 97.5% of the overall emissions impact of most tourism trips. In-depth interviews with self-identified slow travellers illustrate and underpin the concept and note that slow travellers form a continuum from “soft” to “hard” slow travellers. The paper explores time as a social institution, timeless time and fragmented time, travel as an integral part of the tourist experience, and the links between tourism and the travellers’ self-identity and life styles. Special attention is given to people and place engagement, to behavioural choice and decision making psychology, and to the role and growth of web communities. Slow travel is shown to require both holiday type/style choices and travel mode choices. Walking, cycling, travel using bus, coach and train all facilitate slow travel, while air and car travel do not. Slow travel prompts a reassessment of how tourism interfaces with transport.

Climate change and the air travel decisions of UK tourists

by Janet Dickinson

Hares, A., Dickinson, J., Wilkes, K. (2010) Climate change and the air travel decisions of UK tourists. Journal of Transport Geography, 18, 466-473

Whilst much effort has been made to communicate to the public the importance of reducing carbon footprints in the... more Whilst much effort has been made to communicate to the public the importance of reducing carbon footprints in the home, one area where emissions are growing rapidly and little attempt has been made to increase consumer understanding of the impacts is holidays, particularly those involving air travel. Using focus group research, this paper explores tourists’ awareness of the impacts of travel on climate change, examines the extent to which climate change features in holiday travel decisions and identifies some of the barriers to the adoption of less carbon-intensive tourism practices. The findings suggest that many
tourists do not consider climate change when planning their holidays. The failure of tourists to engage with the climate change impact of holidays, combined with significant barriers to behavioural change, presents a considerable challenge in moving the tourism industry onto a sustainable emissions path.
The findings are discussed in relation to theoretical perspectives from psychology and sociology.

Representation of transport: A Rural Destination Analysis

by Janet Dickinson

Dickinson, J.E., Robbins, D., Fletcher, J. 2009 Representation of transport: a rural destination analysis, Annals of Tourism Research, 36, 103-123.

Moscovici’s social representations perspective is applied to a study of transport in a rural destination. The... more Moscovici’s social representations perspective is applied to a study of transport in a rural destination. The principles are demonstrated using empirical data from a questionnaire survey, developed following in-depth qualitative research. The data analysis strategy was founded on inductive reasoning, by employing cluster analysis and correspondence analysis.
A social representations analysis demonstrates how individuals draw on socially accepted explanations of transport where they have little or no direct knowledge or experience of the actual transport modes (notably the alternatives to the car). By so doing, ideas are further perpetuated. Importantly there is ambiguity surrounding responsibility to take positive action
yet a key to addressing transport issues is acknowledgement of responsibility.

Representations of tourism transport problems in a rural destination

by Janet Dickinson

Dickinson, J.E., Robbins, D. 2008 Representations of tourism transport problems in a rural destination, Tourism Management, 29, 1110-1121.

Within the tourism impacts literature, car travel is regularly cited as a main contributor in destination areas. This... more Within the tourism impacts literature, car travel is regularly cited as a main contributor in destination areas. This study questions the nature of the problem by analysing key stakeholders’ representations of the tourism transport problem and tourists’ travel behaviour at a rural tourism destination in the UK. Exploratory research involving in-depth interviews with residents identified a typical emphasis on local travel problems and identified tourist arrivals by car as a major contributor. Data compiled using travel diaries and a survey, however, revealed car-based visitors had fewer concerns. Problems were seen to be minor with little or no need to modify behaviour to cope in any way. Analysis suggests perceptions of problems are to a large extent context contingent and are socially constructed and
reproduced with consequent implications for destination management.

ALCOFORADO, Integração Latino-America e Desintegração Estadual - O caso da infra-estrutura de transportes na Bahia-Brasil

by Ihering Guedes Alcoforado

draft only

Intoduz o introduz o projeto de integração física d continente americano proposto no marco da ALCA, para chamar... more Intoduz o introduz o projeto de integração física d continente americano proposto no marco da ALCA, para chamar atenção, a partir das evidência no estado da Bahia-Brasil,  para seu possível impacto desestruturador do sistema de transportes e logistica nível estadual

Hot Routes: Developing a New Technique for the Spatial Analysis of Crime.

by Lisa Tompson

Reference is:

Tompson, L., Partridge, H. And Shepherd, N. (2009). Hot Routes: Developing a New Technique for the Spatial Analysis of Crime. Crime Mapping: A Journal of
Research and Practice. 1, pp. 77-96

Distributed with kind permission from Transport for London and Crime Mapping : A Journal of Research and Practice

The use of hotspot mapping techniques such as KDE to represent the geographical spread of linear events can be... more The use of hotspot mapping techniques such as KDE to represent the geographical spread of linear events can be problematic. Network-constrained data (for example transport-related crime) require a different approach to visualize concentration. We propose a methodology called Hot Routes, which measures the risk distribution of crime along a linear network by calculating the rate of crimes per section of road. This method has been designed for everyday crime analysts, and requires only a Geographical Information System (GIS), and suitable data to calculate. A demonstration is provided using crime data collected from London bus routes.