Transportation geography

The transport geography is a branch of geography and is one of the interdisciplinary research field of Transport Sciences. The transport geography deals with the relationships between transport and spatial or landscape from different angles. The analysis of transport demand is also part of the research subject as the design of transport infrastructure. The various sections are considered at the organizational, legal and political level. Influences from other areas of geography and its allied disciplines are doing well to this highly application-specific sub-discipline.

History

The transport geography was until the mid-20th century as part of the field of economic geography. Other approaches come from the settlement geography, especially from the urban geography. Even in the classical location theories ( Thünensche rings, central places ) played the overcoming of distances a central role. The main interest lay there for a long time on the transport of goods. With the increasing spatial separation of the basic life functions of the passenger took enormously after the Second World War. The scientific study of the movement of persons came to the fore and was influenced by the Munich School of Social Geography, increasingly based on functional approaches considered (eg commuting ). Participation in the traffic was now regarded as a basic human function. We analyzed not only the various transport purposes but also the particular choice of transportation. Published in 1972, the Club of Rome his study " The Limits to Growth " and also took thus influence the research priorities within the transport geography. Therefore, the foreseeable shortage of resources led to the consideration of the principle of sustainability. Until the 1990s, as a result new focus was within the transport geography. The relocation of motorized private transport to public transport, the transfer of freight to rail and pedestrian-friendly design of inner-city areas and housing estates were central themes. The tendency of development is increasingly becoming a problem-oriented way of working. No longer the mere analysis of the traffic in his relationship structure forms the main focus but also the active shaping and influencing of the traffic. In this case, the exchange with other disciplines plays a major role. The too much supply-driven transport geography now went more and more to look at this on the demand side. The needs of the consumers of transport on the one hand and raise awareness about the need to avoid traffic on the other hand characterize the current phase of transport geography.

Task fields

As an interdisciplinary scientific discipline the transport geography in close contact with other disciplines is inside and outside of geography. The transport geography matters to the Traffic Studies and is in strong interaction with the business management, space research, regional planning and applied geography. Especially the latter takes in the course of using geographic knowledge to solve social, spatial problems an important role. The research directions of transport geography can be prepared by Schliephake differ as follows:

• Quantitative transport geography, marked by the Anglo-American geography, based on the consideration of the traffic especially on the use of statistical, quantitative methods.
• The geography of transport spatial human activities is one of the social science-oriented parts of the transport geography. She sees the traffic related to the human existence and its basic functions and thus belongs to the behavioral geography.
• The economically oriented transport geography examines the interaction between transport supply and demand for transport in their regional differences, both quantitative and qualitative level on.
• As recent work towards the ecological and environmental research approach has been established. This is among others concerned with the environmental problems of the increasing individual traffic and is characterized by the idea of sustainability.
• The Applied Geography traffic is considered as the latest operating direction and is especially devoted to the problem-oriented research. This includes the maintenance of a both qualitatively and quantitatively attractive, regional public transport services as well as the expansion of modern transportation concepts such as city logistics or freight centers.