Hoyle Lecture in Transport Geography This is the Hoyle lecture in transport geography, hosted by the Transport Geography Research Group (see our website). This year the invited speaker was Andrew Goetz, who talked about the history and future directions of the field. It took place on August 29th at the 2013 RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, London.

1. THE PLACE OF TRANSPORT
IN GEOGRAPHY
Andrew R Goetz
Dept of Geography and the Environment
University of Denver
Hoyle Lecture in Transport Geography
2013 RGS-IBG Annual International Conference
London. August 29, 2013

2. THE PLACE OF TRANSPORT IN
GEOGRAPHY
1. Brief history of transport geography
2. Progress in contemporary transport
geography
a. Productivity
b. Centrality and analytical frameworks
3. Opportunities for further advancement

3. Brief history of transport
geography
Source: Taaffe and Gauthier (1973) Geography of Transportation, p. 13

4. The quantitative
revolution, critical
responses, and pluralism
Late 1950s and 1960s—Quantitative revolution
and the rise of the spatial science approach
1970s—Beginnings of criticism of positivist
philosophy inherent in spatial science
Post-1970s ‗theoretical pluralism‘
--Social theory and critical approaches
(humanism, marxism, feminism, structuralism, st
ructuration, realism, locality
studies, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, post
modernism)

5. Early transport geography
Pre-1950s—part of commercial (economic)
geography
• Contribution to descriptive regional geog
Ullman (& Mayer) (1954) ―Transportation
Geography,‖ in American Geography:
Inventory & Prospect
• ―Transportation is a measure of the
relations between areas and is therefore
an essential part of geography‖
• Spatial interaction

6. Strong role in the quantitative
revolution
• Garrison, Berry et al @Univ of Washington
• Transportation Center @Northwestern
Univ
• Haggett (1965) Locational Analysis in
Human Geography.
• Haggett & Chorley (1969) Network
Analysis in Geography.

7. CHAPTERS
1. Transportation and Spatial
Structure
2. Transportation and Spatial
Processes
3. The Gravity Model
4. Structural Analysis of
Transportation Networks:
Aggregate Measures
5. Structural Analysis of
Transportation Networks:
Measures of Nodal
Accessibility
6. Allocation Models
Taaffe and Gauthier (1973)
Geography of Transportation

8. Rumblings of dissent
Eliot Hurst (1973) – NAS/NRC (1965) report
The Science of Geography ―raises the
spectre of having to forcibly mould a study
of say the evolution of Canadian railroad
networks into the Committee‘s procrustean
bed of ‗location theory‘ or ‗network
analysis‘ in order to gain their seal of good
geography.‖
Eliot Hurst (1974) Transportation
Geography: Comments and Readings

9. Progress in Human Geography
Reports--1970s and 80s
Rimmer (1978) Redirections in Transport
Geography
• Identity crisis
• Need new phase to ―repair the schism‖
• Toward a more humanistic transport geog
Hay (1981); Rimmer (1988)

10. Post-70s Pluralism (Taaffe and Gauthier 1994)
• Majority of post-1970s research in transport
geography has been positivist in orientation
• Regarding marxist-social theory
approaches, ―the rate of turnover has been
remarkable: ‗isms‘ have become ‗wasms‘ at
an impressive clip‖!
Source, Taaffe, Edward J. and Howard L. Gauthier. 1994. Transportation geography and geographic thought in the United States: an
overview. Journal of Transport Geography 2(3), p. 159.

11. Hanson commentary on state of
transport geography
Transport geography has become ―a
quiet, some might say moribund, corner of
our discipline‖ that ―has lost its disciplinary
centrality, largely because it has remained
within the analytical framework of the
1960s‖ (Hanson 2003)

12. Re-examination in the 2000s
2006—Series of viewpoints assessing
research needs in transport geography
Keeling (2007, 2008, 2009) Reports in
Progress in Human Geography
Preston (2001), Goetz et al (2004); Knowles
(2006); Shaw, Knowles, & Docherty (2008);
Preston & O‘Connor (2008); Schwanen &
Kwan (2009); Goetz, Vowles, & Tierney
(2009); Hall (2010); Shaw & Sidaway (2011)

13. Summary of Recent Suggestions
for Transport Geography
1. needs to raise its profile
2. has been constrained for too long by its technocratic
and positivist traditions
3. needs to better engage with the ‗cultural‘ and
‗mobility turns‘ within geography and related
disciplines
4. needs to more explicitly embrace the (social) impacts
of information and communication technologies
(ICTs)
5. would benefit from greater inter- and intra-disciplinary
collaboration
Source: Hall 2010

14. Progress in contemporary
transport geography
Productivity
Centrality and Analytical Frameworks

15. Productivity
• Journal of Transport Geography
• New textbooks and compilations
• Activities of transport geography groups in
AAG, RGS-IBG, IGU, and other associations
• The ‗Mobilities‘ turn

16. Journal of Transport
Geography (JTG)
Sharp growth in quantity, impact, and
ranking
1993 2003 2012
# of issues 4 4 6
# of papers 25 25 123
# of special issues 1 1 6
5-yr impact factor -- -- 2.52
Ranking in Geog -- -- 12/72

17. JTG Special Issues/Sections
1993:Transport in Canada
2003:Governance of corridors
2012:Child and youth mobility
Social impacts and equity issues
Rail transit systems and high-speed rail
Time geography
Climate change mitigation
Accessibility & socio-economic activities

18. JTG most prevalent subjects/topics
1993: Air transport & airports, deregulation
2003: Air transport & airports, policy &
governance
2012: Social equity & immobility, high-speed
rail, environmental assessment &
sustainability, public transit, air transport &
airports, land use & TOD, time
geography, pedestrians & bicycles, urban
commuting, children & youth, car
use, logistics & freight

19. Textbooks and Compilations
Banister (2005). Unsustainable Transport: City Transport in the New
Century.
Black (2003) Transportation: A Geographical Analysis.
Black (2010) Sustainable Transportation.
Hanson and Giuliano, eds. (2004) The Geography of Urban
Transportation, 3rd edition.
Hanson and Kwan, eds. (2008) Transport: Critical Essays in Human
Geography.
Hensher, Button, Haynes, and Stopher, eds. (2004) Handbook of
Transport Geography and Spatial Systems.
Knowles, Shaw, and Docherty, eds. (2008) Transport Geographies:
Mobilities, Flows and Spaces.
Rodrigue, Comtois, and Slack. (2013) The Geography of Transport
Systems, 3rd edition.
Taaffe, Gauthier, and O‘Kelly. (1996) Geography of Transportation, 2nd
edition.

20. Activities of transport geography
groups
Transport Geography Specialty Group
(TGSG) organized sessions at Association
of American Geographers (AAG) annual
meetings
1997 2007 2013
6 22 39

21. Number of Co-Organized Sessions with TGSG at
AAG Meetings
Specialty Group 1997 2007 2012
Urban -- 4 16
Economic -- 6 6
Energy & Environment -- 2 6
Spatial Analysis & Modeling -- 3 5
Global Urbanization -- -- 4
GI Science & Systems -- 3 3
Cyberinfrastructure -- -- 2
Asian -- -- 1
Climate -- -- 1
Cultural -- -- 1
Health & Medical -- -- 1
Recreation, Tourism & Sport 1 -- 1
Applied -- 3 --
Historical -- 3 --
Political -- 1 --
Regional Development & Planning -- 1 --
Russian, Central Asian, & East European -- 1 --
Total 1 24 47

22. The ‗Mobilities‘ turn
Mobilities (2006- )
Interdisciplinary interface involving
transport, communications, travel, tourism,
migration
The human experience of mobility
Intersection of social science and transport
science
• ―recasting ‗societal‘ studies, as ‗transport‘
comes out of the ghetto and enters
mainstream social science‖ (Grieco & Urry

23. Centrality and Analytical Frameworks
• Center and periphery in academic disciplines
• Geography in interdisciplinary transportation
studies
• Transport in geography

24. Center and Periphery in Geography
Source: Fenneman, Nevin. 1919. The Circumference of Geography. Annals of the Association of American
Geographers 9(1), p.4.

25. Source: Taaffe, Edward J. 1974. The Spatial View in Context. Annals of the Association of American Geographers
64(1), p. 9.

26. TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHY
GEOGRAPHY TRANSPORTATION

27. GEOGRAPHY IN TRANSPORT
GEOGRAPHY TRANSPORTATION
• CIVIL ENGINEERING
• ECONOMICS
• BUSINESS
• PLANNING
• POLICY
• ETC
• TRANSPORT IN SOCIETY
• TRANSPORT IN ACADEMIA
TRANSPORT
GEOGRAPHY

28. TRANSPORT IN GEOGRAPHY
GEOGRAPHY
• HUMAN
• PHYSICAL
• PEOPLE-ENVIRONMENT
• GEOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION SCIENCE
• ETC
TRANSPORT
GEOGRAPHY
To what extent is transport represented in ‗mainstream‘ geography?
TRANSPORTATION

29. Transport-oriented research in top
geography journals (1996-2006)
Journal # of articles
1. Progress in Human Geog 7
2. Transactions, IBG 5
3. Environment & Planning D 6
4. Political Geog 5
5. Annals, AAG 13
6. Antipode 4
7. Economic Geog 14
8. Environment & Planning A 91
9. Area 13
10. Professional Geographer 30
11. Geoforum 18
12. Urban Geography 19
Total 225 (4.5% of capacity)
Source: Goetz, Vowles, and Tierney (2009)

30. Qualitative/quantitative split in
transport-oriented research in top
geography journals (1996-2006)
Journal Qual Quan
1. Progress in Human Geog 7 0
2. Transactions, IBG 5 0
3. Environment & Planning D 6 0
4. Political Geog 4 1
5. Annals, AAG 4 9
6. Antipode 4 0
7. Economic Geog 9 5
8. Environment & Planning A 22 69
9. Area 12 1
10. Professional Geographer 13 17
11. Geoforum 9 9
12. Urban Geography 7 12
Total 102 123Source: Goetz, Vowles, and Tierney (2009)

31. Opportunities for Further
Advancement

32. Expansion of qualitative/critical
approaches in transport geography*
• Increased interaction with other geographic
subfields, especially
urban, economic, cultural, historical, developme
nt, and political
• The ‗New Mobilities‘ paradigm
• Relational geographies
• Environment and Sustainability
• Social and environmental justice
• Global health
• Impacts of information technology
• Public policy

33. Value of both qualitative &
quantitative approaches
Binary dualisms mask possible overlaps
―Becoming skilled in the practice of
quantitative as well as qualitative
geography can only strengthen the
influence of critical thought, within the
academy and without‖ (Sheppard 2001)

34. Multiple identities of transport
geographers
Transport geographers tend to live double
(triple, etc) academic lives
• Specialization in one or more other
geographic subfields
• Specialization in one or more other
transport areas

35. Questions and
Discussion