Transitions and disruptive technologies in transport planning

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight how the continuous processes of socio-technical transition impact on the field of transport planning, and to reveal how at times, developments converge to make certain technological developments more “disruptive” to the status quo and to the ability to plan. The history of transport systems, at least over the last 300 years, is one that has been profoundly shaped by technological invention (Rodrigue et al., 2009) which is closely entwined with an ever-growing demand for transport as the developments increase human reach, both temporally and spatially and become more embedded in wider social practices (Rinkinen et al., 2020). In transport, there is a lot of anticipation about the potential for new technologies and services to deliver solutions to some longstanding and rather intractable problems, such as congestion, air pollution, and carbon emissions. Concern in the health sector regarding the impacts of sedentarism arising from overdependence on cars also drive behavioral policy moves to increase active travel. It is increasingly important that cobenefits of change can be identified and promoted, and also that nontechnological solutions are deployed alongside.