The End of Traffic and the Future of Access: A Roadmap to the New Transport Economy - Paperback

by Kevin J. Krizek (Author), David M. Levinson (Author)

In this book we propose the welcome notion that traffic-as most people have come to know it-is ending and why. We depict a transport context in most communities where new opportunities are created by the collision of slow, medium, and fast moving technologies. We then unfold a framework to think more broadly about concepts of transport and accessibility. In this framework, transport systems are being augmented with a range of information technologies; it invokes fresh flows of goods and information. We discuss large scale trends that are revolutionizing the transport landscape: electrification, automation, the sharing economy, and big data. Based on all of this, the final chapters offer strategies to shape the future of infrastructure needs and priorities.We aim for a quick read-and to encourage you and other readers to think outside your immediate realm. By the end of this book (today, if you so choose) you will appreciate the changing times in which you live. You will hopefully appreciate what is new about transport discussions and how definitions of accessibility are being reframed. You will be provided with new ways of thinking about the planning of transport infrastructure that coincide with this changing landscape. Even if transport is not your bailiwick, we like to think there is something interesting for you here. We aim to share new perspectives and reframe debates about the future of transport in cities.

Author Biography

Prof. David Levinson teaches at the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney, where he leads the Network Design Lab and the Transport Engineering group. He is an honorary affiliate of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, where he is also a member of the Board of Advice. From 1999 to 2016, he served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota where he held the Richard P. Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation (2006-2016). Levinson has authored or edited several books, including Spontaneous Access, The Transportation Experience, and Planning for Place and Plexus, as well as numerous peer reviewed articles. He is the editor of the Journal of Transport and Land Use.