Week 2 - Fundamental Concepts of Transportation Flashcards
What are the core components of transportation?
- modes
- infrastructure
- networks
- flows
Define modes
vehicles to move passengers or freight; mobile elements of transp (ex. cars)
Define infrastructure
physical support of transp modes (ex. routes, terminals, roads, bridges)
Define networks
systems of linked locations (nodes); functional and spatial organization of transp
Define flows
- movement of people, freight, and info over network
- have origins, intermediary locations, and destinations
Explain why transportation is an indispensable part of economy and society (dimensions)
One of the most important human activities.
- historical: changes brought by transport technologies, rise/cohesion of civilizations, and development of modern nations
- economic: transport and economic development and the value of goods/services; influences land value
- social: access to healthcare, welfare, and cultural events; shapes social interactions
- political: nation building/unity; national defence; rules/regulations; subsidized mobility
- environmental: pollution (GHGs/air quality), exploitation of natural resources
How is transportation a key economic sector in its own right in Canada?
- 4.2% of national GDP
- until recently, truck driving was single largest occupation for men
Why does transportation occur?
- goal is to overcome space (shaped by distance, time, admin divisions, and topography)
- about changing the geographical attributes (locations) of people and freight (goods) from origin to destination - key is value is added along the way
- a derived demand: it takes place because of some other economic activity/demand is taking place (ex. only take the bus to get to school; truck delivers concrete to construction site)
What is transportability?
The convenience at which passengers, freight, or info can be moved
- relates to cost of movement (modal difference), attributes of what is being transported (fragility, state, value), institutional factors (laws, borders, tariffs)
- similar to mobility: the relative ease of movement
What is an example of a good with high transportability?
cars, explosives b/c they have high value and are easy to transport
What is an example of a good with low transportability?
gravel, waste
What groups of people have the highest mobility?
- the wealthier you are, the more you travel (income strongly related to mobility)
- a challenge because as people become wealthier, they’ll desire more mobility, which means more GHGs
How much effort and money are we willing to put into travel?
- 10-15% of household budget
- income and travel positively correlated
- most people commute about 1-1.5 hours per day
- influences decisions on where to live, where to go, and how to get there
What are the roles transportation?
Key role in structure and organization of space and territories
- major influence on evolution of location theory (transp costs & influence on patterns of location)
- at local scale, one of major influences on urban morphology (why cities take certain form - new emphasis on TOD)
- at regional/national scale, influence/relationship with economic development (impact on economy - ex. trade influences transp b/c coastal cities )
What is Alfred Weber’s theory of industrial location?
The least-cost location largely driven by transport costs.
Ex. making beer, inputs are grain and water from 2 corners and third corner is town, where do you locate rail system?
- minimize costs to maximize profits under set of assumptions (ex. cost directly proportional to weight of goods)
What is the main ideas of transp roles?
- importance in development of space
- scale-dependent (global to local diffs in roles)
- mode and time dependent (container ships vs. truck transport)
In the evolution of transp systems, what is space/time convergence?
“shrinking” the world through speeding up modes with technology
- ex. ship to train to airplanes to jet planes to internet
What is the historical evolution of transp systems?
- related to spatial evolution of economic systems
- strong links b/w transp and development, so major stages in evolution of economic systems are specifically related to tech innovations
- must recognize that enhancements in communication tech plays critical role in this evolution (ex. rail & telegraph; highway & phone; supply chains & internet)
What are the phases of world economy development?
1500-1780: mercantilism 1780-1880: industrial capitalism 1880-1970: monopoly capitalism (fordism) 1970-2010: corporate capitalism (post-fordism) 2010-?: sustainable capitalism
Explain the pre-industrial era/mercantilism
- Growth: commodities and crafts trade
- production unit: workshop
- production system: craft cities
- limited to animal and wind power so low volumes and low speeds
- land transport was long distances for high value goods
Explain industrial capitalism/industrial revolution
- Growth: textiles, steam power, metallurgy
- production unit: factory
- production system: industrial cities/regions
- massive modifications were canal systems and railways
Explain monopoly capitalism/fordism
- Growth: electricity, petrochemicals, internal combustion engines
- production unit: multinational corporations
- production system: industrial clusters
- economies of scale through assembly lines
- first commercial air service in 1919
- shift from coal to oil
Explain corporate capitalism/post-fordism
- Growth: aviation, electronics, info, communications tech
- production unit: corporate system
- production system: global production networks
- mass development of telecommunications, globalization, and efficient distribution systems
Explain sustainable capitalism
- Growth: digital networks/devices, green energy, customized fabrications
- production unit: collaborative supply chain
- production system: hierarchical production networks
- still have dual dependency (transp heavily relies on fossils fuels and road transp)
What is expected to be part of the next phase of world economic development?
- autonomous vehicles
- electrification of transp
- hyperloop
What is transp planning?
- focus on “the plan” but transp planning is a continuous process
- effective transp planning is an integral and ongoing part of decision making in our communities
- lots of components with lots of actors
- ex. hierarchy: Planning Act > PPS > OP (transp mp, infrastructure mp, green space mp, design guidelines) > community design plan > zoning by-law > development review/approval
What does transp planning consider?
- efficient movement of people and goods (efficiency = least cost, time, resources/energy; uses measures of effectiveness for system performance & sustainability indicators)
- different modes: intermodal (moving between; ex. container from ship to rail) and multimodal (considering all methods; ex. walk, then car, then bike)
- thinks forward to future performance through quality & quantity (ex. changing needs and demands, changing state of facilities, impacts of changing social norms)
What can be TP be broken down into (4 key things)?
- TP sets goals/objectives for transp that must consider range of factors
- ex. land uses and kind of city we want (homogenous vs. mixed; sprawl vs. concentrated) - TP documents existing conditions through monitoring
- ex. transit ridership; traffic volumes; primary destinations (employment, education, retail); travel patterns (peak hours - not planning for max capacity b/c inefficient most of time) - TP develops and selects measures of effectiveness using key indicators
- mostly quantitative w/ some qualitative
- ex. accidents frequency, severity, and type (auto-auto, auto-bike, etc.)
- must consider location, available data sources, reliability, etc. - TP develops alternatives
- finds range of alts & adapts to local context
- evaluates alts against projections/forecasts (ex. pop growth, demographic change, economic conditions, changing social norms)
- evaluation techniques use quantitative measures, models, case studies, and public input
What are the scale of TP?
- facility level
- corridor level
- neighbourhood level
- city
- regional
- national
Explain the facility level scale of TP
- micro level infrastructure items that can have highly variable character across areas
- ex. design of bus shelters, street lights, crosswalks, pavement conditions
Explain the corridor level scale of TP
- segments b/w nodes
- ex. sidewalks, lanes, land use, design
- must consider purpose and function in network
Explain the neighbourhood level scale of TP
- lanes, pedestrian, bicycle strategies, land use, design
- neighbourhoods have specific purposes/characters, even within same general land use category (ex. pre-war grid, post-war cul-de-sacs, mid/high-rise apartments)
What are the main neighbourhood layout models?
- Grid: road grid network few parks, high density, high mixed land use
- Greenway: grid network of trails offset from disconnected road network, homes face trails, low density, medium mixed land use
- Loop & cul-de-sac: disconnected road network, large parks, low density, low mixed land use
- New urbanist: modelled after grid with more parks and trails, some cul-de-sacs, mainly alleys, low density, high mixed land use
Explain the city level scale of TP
- issues which must be addressed at city-wide scale
- current/development planning (short term): ex. traffic impact studies
- strategic/policy planning (long term): ex. transp MP, OP, road network startegies
Explain the regional level scale of TP
- issues relevant at larger scale
- ex. public TP, regional transp, major infrastructure, regional roads
Explain the provincial level scale of TP
- long range of issues with broad spatial impact and high cost
- ex. 400-series highway, Metrolinx & GO
Explain the national level scale of TP
- borders, air travel, immigration, trade, strategically sig. infrastructure
- ex. gateways and corridors program
