What Does Transportation Equity Mean U Of T Researcher On Why Its Too Important To Ignore
Canada is on the cusp of some major disruptions to its transportation systems.
Ride-sharing apps, on-demand transit and micromobility are already available in some cities. Self-driving vehicles are in development. And as urban centres continue to grow, it is necessary to invest in traditional public transit that will best serve riders in the future.
But social benefits are often an afterthought in transit planning. When new technologies come into use, who gets left behind?
Steven Farber is an assistant professor in the department of human geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Much of his research looks at the social and economic outcomes of transportation use in urban areas. Farber is helping to host a two-day workshop this week called Mobilizing Justice that is bringing together industry, government, community stakeholders and academics to understand the role equity plays in planning transportation systems.
Farber recently sat down to talk about the role technology plays in creating and addressing inequities in transit systems, and why transit planning is a social justice issue.
What does transportation equity mean?
Theres no agreement yet on what it means exactly, but the general concept is looking at how to design transportation systems that are fair. This can be thought of as how transportation goods and transportation bads are distributed among different populations.
What Are The Six Processes Of Transportation
Therefore an essential part of transportation management lies in building an efficient supply chain from the six main modes of transportation: road, maritime, air, rail, intermodal, and pipeline. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each mode is paramount to building an effective supply chain.
Transportation Accessibility And Geography
Accessibility in regards to geography is an important element in mobility for people, freight, or information. Mobility is determined by people and affects infrastructure, transport policies, and regional development. Transportation systems that offer better opportunities of accessibility are considered well-developed and efficient and have a cause and effect relationship to various social and economic options.
Capacity and arrangement of various transportation options largely determine accessibility, and locations range in terms of equality due to their level of accessibility. The two main components of accessibility in transportation and geography are location and distance.
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Additional Transport Definition References
Freight Transport Definition
Freight transport, or shipping, is important in supply chain manufacturing. With elevated specialization and globalization, production is becoming situated further away from consumption, quickly growing the demand for transport. Transportation creates location utility by moving the goods from the place of production to the location of consumption. While all modes of transport are used for cargo transport, there is a higher differentiation between the nature of the cargo transport, in which mode is selected. Logistics refers to the entire process of transferring goods from producer to customers, such as storage, transport, transshipment, warehousing, material-handling and packaging, with the related exchange of info. Incoterm offers with the handling of payment and responsibility of danger during transport.
Freight train with shipping containers in the United Kingdom
Containerization, with the standardization of ISO containers on all vehicles and at all ports, has revolutionized international and domestic trade, offering huge reduction in transshipment expenses. Traditionally, all cargo had to be manually loaded and unloaded into the haul of any ship or vehicle containerization allows for automated handling and transfer between modes of transport, and the standardized sizes allow for gains in economy of scale in car operation. This has been 1 of the key driving factors in international trade and globalization because of the 1950s.
Transport Geography: Brief Notes On Transport Geography
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Transportation is a measure of the relations between areas and is therefore, an essential aspect of geography .
In our daily life everything appears to be on the move, and speed seems to be ever increasing. This almost universal observation implies that transportation of all kinds forms the warp and weft in modern society. Wagner has aptly pointed out the contribution that transport has been able to share in integrating social phenomenon and changes taking place everywhere.
He stated, The routes along which men, materials, and messages move bind a society together. They make the reticule on which are strung the sites of work and rest they are the paths along which flow the myriad streams of raw and half-made goods in process of production they form the links between each local group of human and the thoughts and presence of its fellows.
Transport is not only a basic human activity, but is also movement in space therefore, the study of transport is of great importance to geographers. It is also an explanatory factor in the spatial patterns assumed by the human activities, which are basic to geography.
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A vehicle or unit of conveyance and
A medium upon which to move.
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Taking power into account, the following categories are significant:
Man and animal power used as a force in transportation,
Mechanical power in the form of force driving automobiles, trains, ships, aeroplanes, etc., and
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Air routes.
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The Significance Of Transportation
Transport is one of the most significant human activity on a global scale since it enables us to circumvent geographical constraints. It is a vital element of the economy and serves a crucial function in sustaining spatial relationships between locales. Transport establishes connections between areas and economic activity, as well as between individuals and the rest of the world, and as a result generates value. It is made of fundamental elements, including modes, infrastructures, networks, and fluxes. Despite substantial technical, social, and economic developments, geography remains a crucial element influencing transportation. These components are essential for transportation to occur, and they also demonstrate the importance of geography in determining transportation.
Transport is a multifaceted endeavor whose significance consists of:
Transportation as a multidisciplinary activity may be tackled through a variety of disciplines of study, including transport demand, nodes, and networks, which are at the core of transport geography. In contrast, some are more peripheral, such as natural resources, political geography, and regional geography. Nonetheless, they all contribute to the comprehension of transportation operations and their effects on the economy, society, and environment.
Substantial empirical data demonstrates that the significance of transportation is increasing, particularly in light of the following modern trends:
What Transport Geography Can Teach Network Science
Transport geography will continue to contribute its complex problems, such as empirical observations of heterogeneities in optimal networks, and the definition it lends to the abstract network science. For example, while community detection methods remain varied and inconclusive for network science as a whole , given the context of transportation networks, the types of detection methods eligible for use can be trimmed to exclude those known not to work on transportation networks. Barthélemy suggests that such community detection may prove useful “in geography and in the determination of new administrative boundaries.”. In instances where network science fails to draw expected conclusions, such as von Ferber, et. al.’s finding that the number of stations in a city’s public transportation network is independent of population, transport geography may be able to enrich its network models by incorporating aspects such as historical or socio-economic indicators.
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What Network Science Has Taught Transport Geography
In return, network science has given transportation geography a set of mathematical foundations and formulations with which to address its problems. Network science’s strong relationship with graph theory has allowed for concepts such as the minimum spanning tree and other mathematically optimal networks to be used in crafting measures of cost and efficiency of actual networks. Optimization of problems of traffic on networks and network structure “have a long tradition in mathematics and physics,” and there is extensive literature handling such idealized networks. The concept of reductionism that network science engenders has been important for the growth of the relationship of the two fields, as well as for network science’s ability to draw upon advances in fields other than transportation for applications to transport networks.
Transportation Technology & Society
Transportation geography examines flows of people, goods, and information as well as their relationships with the urban, economic, social, political, and cultural aspects of human society. Without efficient transportation services, global economy would not have been possible, daily commuting would be difficult, and cultural and social interactions would be limited. Advancements of transportation, communications, and information technologies have played an important role in improving transportation efficiency and have been continuously reshaping human activity and interaction patterns. Although our physical world does not shrink, interactions among different places around the world have increased dramatically over the past century that significantly changed urban, economic, social, political, and cultural activities around the world. In the meantime, transportation also introduces new challenges to human society such as the traffic congestion, environmental impact, safety, security, and social equity issues. It therefore is an exciting time to study the interactions among Transportation, Technology, and Society.
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What Is A Transportation And Logistics Degree
Students learn how to manage operations in areas of procurement, warehousing, and transporting goods. … Students earn a degree in business administration with a concentration in logistics and operations. Graduates are often qualified for entry- and mid-level leadership positions within the public and private arenas.
Perspectives For Transportation Geography
Transport geography has played a minor part in the subject of transport studies, which has been dominated by engineers and economists. This was partially attributable to the industry’s emphasis on supplying infrastructures and technologies, at what cost and with what advantages, and at what price point. Issues as diverse as safety, aesthetics, working conditions, the environment, and governance must be taken into account in the current industry, which is far more complicated. Therefore, a far larger range of abilities is necessary, and transport studies have evolved into a multidisciplinary subject of study. Transport geography has the potential to contribute to transport research, transport planning, and transport operations due to the breadth of its training and methodology. Despite this, transport geography, as well as the area of transportation in general, does not get the amount of academic study commensurate with its economic and social significance.
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The Importance Of Transportation
Transport represents one of the most important human activities worldwide as it allows us to mitigate the constraint of geography. It is an indispensable component of the economy and plays a major role in supporting spatial relations between locations. Transport creates links between regions and economic activities, between people and the rest of the world, and as such, generates value. It is composed of core components, which are the modes, infrastructures, networks, and flows. These components are fundamental for transportation to occur, but they also underline that geography, despite significant technological, social, and economic changes, remains a salient force shaping transportation.
Transport is a multidimensional activity whose importance is:
Transportation as a multidisciplinary endeavor can be approached through several fields of inquiry where some are at the core of transport geography, such as transport demand, nodes, and networks. In contrast, others are more peripheral, such as natural resources, political geography, and regional geography. Yet, they all contribute to the understanding of transport activities and their impacts on the economy, society, and the environment.
Substantial empirical evidence underlines that the importance of transportation is growing, particularly in light of the following contemporary trends:
Race/ethnicity Identity & Social Justice
The formation of identity is complex, subject to multiple and sometimes conflicting social, economic and cultural processes. As Geraldine Pratt notes, debates about human identity are vast, but none-the-less lie at the heart of our understandings of contemporary society. As a consequence much of the modern research on identity and geography focuses on the way socio-spatial inequalities are inscribed into space and place. Building upon this research, several faculty in the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee examine race/ethnicity, identity politics, and social justice from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. We are united however, in focusing on the way identity is foundational to understanding the contemporary construction of space and place and its connection to broader questions about creation and representation of geographic inequalities and justice. Faculty within this core theme are affiliated with and collaborate with the universitys Center for the Study of Social Justice. This research core combines dynamic faculty who are active in attending and presenting research at professional meetings and who are actively publishing work in leading geography and other social science journals.
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Transportation Geography Studies The Movement Of Goods People And Information
- M.A., Geography, California State University – East Bay
- B.A., English and Geography, California State University – Sacramento
Transportation geography is a branch of economic geography that studies transportation and all aspects related to it and the geography of an area. This means that it examines the transportation or movement of people, goods, and information in or across different regions. It can have a local focus in a city , as well as a regional , national or global focus. Transportation geography also studies the different modes of transportation such as road, rail, aviation and boat and their relationships to people, the environment and urban areas.
Transportation has been important in geographic study for hundreds of years. In the early days of geography explorers used known sailing routes to explore new areas and set up trading outposts. As the world’s economy began to modernize and develop railway and maritime shipping became increasingly important and knowledge of foreign markets was essential. Today transportation capacity and efficiency is important so knowing the quickest way to move people and products is important and in turn, understanding the geography of the regions in which these people and products are moving is vital.
Cities Urban Economies And Trade
Cities and wider urban regions have long been centers of culture, economic growth, human capital, innovation, policy, trade, and transportation. These regions are often very complex, changing constantly with continual inflows and outflows of products, services, information, workers, and migrants at the regional, national, and global scales. In addition to the myriad benefits derived from cities, they also provide a number of challenges that can include congestion, environmental issues, and inequality.
Our department examines urban dynamics from a number of angles across numerous worldwide locations and in various settings, by using a wide range of methodological approaches. We also explore the dynamics that enable some urban regions to flourish, while others decline. Below is a brief sample of our facultys research interests:
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The Shimbel Index And The Valued Graph
The main focus of measuring accessibility does not necessarily involve measuring the total number of paths between locations, but rather what are the shortest paths between them. Even if several paths between two locations exist, the shortest one is likely to be selected. In congested networks, the shortest path may change according to the current traffic level on each segment. Consequently, the Shimbel index calculates the minimum number of paths necessary to connect one node with all the nodes in a defined network. The Shimbel accessibility matrix, also known as the D-Matrix, includes each possible node pairs the shortest path.
The Shimbel index and its D-Matrix fail to consider that a topological link between two nodes may involve variable distances. Thus, it can be expanded to include the notion of distance, where value is attributed to each link in the network. The valued graph matrix, or L-Matrix, represents such an attempt. It has a very strong similarity with the Shimbel accessibility matrix. The only difference lies that instead of showing the minimal path in each cell, it provides the minimal distance between each node of the network.
- Shimbel Distance Matrix
- Valued Graph Matrix
Transportation Geography And Network Science/what Can Transportation Geography And Network Science Teach Each Other
In considering the relationship between transport geography and network science, the two fields must first be clearly defined and delineated. Following Rodrigue, et. al., “Transport geography is a subdiscipline of geography concerned about movements of freight, people and information. It seeks to link spatial constraints and attributes with the origin, the destination, the extent, the nature and the purpose of movements.” Three central concepts related to this definition are nodes , transshipment, and destination points), networks , and demand . Transportation is itself a complex subject, incorporating dimensions of history, economics, sociology, politics, and environmental studies, and geographical concepts of importance include location , complementarity , and scale . In order to distill the complex contributions of varied fields to transport geography, Rodrigue, et. al., specifically identify that “the role of transport geography is to understand the spatial relations that are produced by transport systems.” In this respect, transport geography sits at the intersection of the study of transport systems and of geography . For the purpose of this paper, transport geography will be considered to concern, for any given purpose, the translation of geographical realities into simplified network models, and the assessment of the appropriateness of those models with respect to geographical reality.
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What Transport Geography Has Taught Network Science
Given these definitions, one will readily contend that transport geography’s contributions to network science have been, essentially, to craft the entire arm of the science responsible for handling problems based on transportation networks. Aside from some pedantic examples, the arm of network science that engages transport geography has grown because transport geography has given network science problems for research and development of its science, and real data to validate its representation of real networks. Particularly, transport geography brought to the table a class of problems with dynamic networks and link weights, often further complicated by the requirement that these networks interact with human decisions and behavior. In seeking to translate these complex realities into language familiar to network science, transport geography has, in turn, required the network scientist to devise new means and methods of meaningfully approaching these complexities. Taking the case of accessibility, concepts from transportation science were sometimes translated into mathematical, network-friendly expressions as a means of aiding communication between the disciplines.