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The Future of transportation and communication: Visions and perspectives from Europe, Japan and the USA
Book reviews
I suspect that Dorothy Riddle, whose much quoted arguments are elsewhere, would not approve of this neglect of the real productivity contribution of services. These debates, both of which are about the role of service functions in relation to other activities, are important for students to understand if they are to move their thinking beyond the conventional obsession with services versus manufacturing activities, and with activity classifications that are universally condemned as inadequate. These dissatisfactions arise largely from Chapter 1, a collection of ‘factual and theoretical perspectives’. although by their nature they pervade the rest of the book. Its positive qualities emerge more clearly later, as the focus shifts to international trade, mainly in financial and business services, and its implications for urban development. The approach nevertheless remains somewhat episodic, summarizing diverse, mainly empirical material. Chapter 2 perhaps suffers most from this disjointedness, reviewing the causes for growing service tradability. There are summary discussions of relevant developments in information technology. transportation, and service multinationals, including three UK case studies. Some attempt is made at general explanation, based on Dunning’s eclectic approach. and Vandermerwe and Chadwick’s analysis of modes of international service delivery. The most useful section here is on government influences on service trade. and barriers to it, exemplified by the Single Market proposals for the European Community. and the 1988 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. Chapter 3 is the core of this part of the book. on ‘International trade and foreign direct investment in services’. This is detailed and informative, outlining patterns and trends in service trade, including measurement problems. and the nature of service Parallel comparative advantage. developments in service FDI are also reviewed. After some discussion of the implications for developing countries and Eastern Europe/former CIS. there is a concise but clear summary of the issues faced by the
GATT in liberalizing global service trade. The last two substantive chapters bring information together on the significance of international service exchange for the global urban system. Why do high-level services concentrate in, and define world cities? In particular, what have been the key developments in the financial service sector? Then attention is directed to consequent changes in the internal structures of these cities, including employment patterns, urban property markets, and changing patterns of service location. Although drawing on a range of examples, the most detailed discussion is based on London, including the problems of the Docklands Canary Wharf development. Much of this material is already quite accessible. but it is valuable for students to have preliminary access to it in textbook form. In the final chapter, Daniels reflects briefly on some critical questions about the future of service developments. Will service growth continue, after the 1980s ‘decade of optimism’? Recent setbacks and doubts are reviewed, although there is no mention of the Thurow thesis that many service developments then were based on ‘one-off’ events. Are service-dominated economies desirable? I think he suggests that this is the wrong question to ask. Is service globalization inevitable? Probably only for very specific financial and information functions. What is the remaining potential of telecommunications to replace human mobility? Considerable, for example through video-conferencing and teleworking. but again constrained by organizational and social influences. The main theme that Daniels seeks to demonstrate is the growing ‘tradability’ of activities traditionally seen as dominated by local exchange, and which still depend so much on direct contacts between producer and consumer. The evidence that he presents for the growing global significance of service functions certainly provides ammunition to counter their past neglect, and an accessible student introduction to these issues. His selection and organization of material is not always convincing, however, and
the book lacks conceptual coherence with regard to some important aspects of the economic role of services. The author might well argue, as he has in the past, that such incoherence is inherent in service studies. New perspectives on the very nature of modern economies, especially arising from changing patterns of sectoral and geographical interdependence, have nevertheless been encouraged by modern service analysis. These have affected our view of many of both production aspects and consumption changes, including the nature of comparative advantage, and thus the bases of service competition and trade. Peter Wood Department of Geography, University College London, UK
The Future of Transportation and Communication: Visions and Perspectives from Europe, Japan and the USA
Roland Thord (ed) Springer Verlag, Berlin (1993) 265 pp DM 128 ISBN 3 530 56377 6
This book is a collection of 16 papers presented at a conference sponsored by the Swedish National Road Administration. As the book’s subtitle suggests, it offers a diversity of perspectives on the subject. The diversity is accomplished not only by the geographical background from which the authors come, but also by the balance between academics and representatives of various government agencies. While one could argue that a discussion of the future of transportation and communications (T&C) could benefit from contributions from industry as well. I find the editor’s decision not to focus on the pure technological aspects a wise one. A brief and useful review of the technological is provided by aspects Forsberg in the concluding article of the book. There are two ‘tests’ to which a book of this genre can be submitted. First and foremost, does the reader learn about the subject that is offered by the book title? In this case. the test of each 197
Book reviews article and the collection as a whole is: to what degree does one learn about the future of T&C systems? The second ‘test’ is a more technical one: assuming the book does deliver on its content, is it done in an eloquent, effective and persuasive manner? Thus, what we have learned about the future is the main criterion by which the articles are evaluated below. The book is divided into four parts: I Visions of the future arenas, II Regional perspectives, III Network perspectives and IV Environmental perspectives. Each contains four papers. Ake Andersson provides the ‘grand picture’ of the transition from the industrial age to the C-society (the communications society). One of the main features of the C-society is the existence of a multilayered network of infrastructure, facilitating the movement of assorted products: bulk, small parcels, people and, increasingly, information. This will lead to the creation of C-regions across Europe, in which much of the knowledge production will take place. Needless to say, such regions span across national boundaries, and the T&C systems must be there to support and facilitate such a change. One shortcoming of Andersson’s vision of the future C-society is the comparison of infrastructure networks serving diverse transportation technologies. The length of the airline network cannot simply be compared with that of the road, rail or canal networks because, first, it is a network in which the vast investment is at the nodes and not at the links, and second, it is an instantaneous infrastructure: ie the length can be continuously adjusted to demand, without any sunk investments. Moreover, the comparison of the length does not imply what level of utilization exits on the networks. Thus concluding, based on Nakicenovic (1989) that we are moving away from the road, seems to be a misinterpretation. The parallel to the European case is described in Kiyoshi Kobayashi’s article on Japan. Following a short cultural introduction, the author describes the development of T&C infrastructure in Japan as a consequence of regional policy. He points at the concurrent social and economic changes, which are probably both a drive for and a result 198
of the development of a dense highspeed T&C infrastructure in Japan. The prospects of employing a similar strategy for regional interactivity at the Pacific Rim, with Japan as the focal point, are again emphasizing the internationalization of T&C systems. An excellent statement on the future of European T&C is provided in Kenneth Button’s article. As what the future entails depends not only on what is likely to happen, but also on ‘what we would wish to happen’, it is necessary to emphasize the role of policy in shaping the future. Button analyses the background trends and the forces of change, including the role of the European Community, the changes occurring in Eastern Europe, the growing importance of the environmental factor, technical and industrial changes and external forces. This analysis leads to a discussion and evaluation, albeit at a level of generof possible ality, of the array responses. Some of the ‘buzz’ words in the field, such as modal integration, fiscal reform, and privatization, are explained and put into perspective. The article is well referenced and is extremely useful to both new and veteran students of the field. The last article in this part, by Richard Schonberger, claims to address issues of teamwork, communication and synchronization across space. It provides a number of examples to demonstrate how organizations adopt new technologies and, with them, new organizational approaches. However, the arguments are not founded on prior (cited) research, and it looks more like a collection of anecdotes than a learned statement on what the future holds. The regional perspectives of Part II include those of central Europe, Eastern Europe, the USA and Japan. I have some reservations about the titles, which claim to be ‘the’ perspective; ‘a’ perspective might have been more appropriate: the central European perspective is strictly a German one, the Eastern European perspective is Russian. Comparing the perspectives brought forward in these four articles is very illustrative. The article by Heinz Sandhager Sandhager on Germany emphasizes the problems
emanating from the unification of Germany: the need to upgrade the infrastructure in the former DDR to the standards prevailing in central Europe. Such massive construction within a country that has already recognized the environmental costs of transportation required special legislation that will enable planning and construction in less than 10-15 years while maintaining the public’s ability to be involved in the process. By contrast, the Eastern European perspective, by Igor Kiselev is preoccupied with infrastructure development. It is an interesting account of the transportation problems in the Leningrad area, but it leaves much to be desired. The economic information is quite unintelligible, and there is no mention of either institutional or environmental issues. The basic claim is that the infrastructure is far from that of Western standards. Unfortunately, the discussion does not elevate to the problem of the future: will Eastern European countries pursue major investments in infrastructure without an internalization of the lessons learned in Western European countries? Frog leaps may be more desired than practicable, but we should at least discuss their potential. The article by Thomas Larson, the head of the US Federal Highway Administration, is a well-structured presentation of present and future transportation problems. The role of new information technology (IVHS) in improving the performance of road systems is discussed, as are issues of financing and environmental concerns. It seems that a bit too much is expected from the potential substitution of telecommunications for travel (Handy et al, forthcoming). Perhaps one aspect of the conference that is exemplified through this article more than others is the overwhelming focus on road transport. I would expect a futures perspective to command an increasingly integrative approach, and I would have liked an American speaking to a European audience to pay some attention to the implications of ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, the US policy that requires consideration of intermodal effects). Nevertheless, this article is one of the best in the collection.
Book reviews
Kazahira Yoshikawa, presenting the Japanese perspective, takes an interesting course to introduce the reader to the future of Japan’s T&C Systems. He describes the development of infrastructure as an outcome of the political structure in Japanese history. This leads to a description of present-day and future infrastructure in Japan. The concluding paragraph of the Japanese perspective cites Walt Disney as saying ‘If we can dream it we can do it’. One is led to believe that this is the rule. as the impressive rail, tunnel, road and offshore airports are developed, and no economic. institutional or environmental barriers are alluded to, at least in the article. Part III opens with a technical paper on infrastructure, productivity and growth by Born Johansson. Although the econometric model presented here is interesting in its attempt to address the spatial aspect of infrastructure’s impacts on productivity. the article is somewhat out of place. It also suffers from some lack of clarity in the notation and in the tables. A paper of this nature calls for d careful examination of clarity, as is common in journal publications. Folke Snickars argues for the need for a systems perspective on infrastructure planning. The Swedish National Road Administration, as is the case in many other countries, is a modal agency responsible for one type of infrastructure. Needless to say, agencies mode-based may often develop and promote suboptimal solutions, as they lack the responsibility. and sometimes the vision, to pursue a broader perspective. With the forthcoming complexity of transportation problems, and particularly the externalities involved. Snickars’ call for a systems view of planning is very much in place. Willem Westerhuis. the director of the International Road Federation, provides a very brief ‘pro-road’ statement: roads will continue to be the backbone of European transport, and hence even Brussels has woken up to the fact that their notable preoccupation with the promotion of high-speed rail links and combined transport is
no more than scratching the surface of the problem. (p 104) Although throughout the book there is a road system flavour, I still think that in view of the complexity of the problem that is set forth by some of the participants. this declaration is quite provocative. Klaus Kunzmann provides a very important and interesting angle to the discussion of the future of T&C, namely the necessary education that is required to tackle the forthcoming challenges. He argues that education must be interdisciplinary, suggesting that some of the problems we are facing today may be an outcome of more strict and narrow disciplinary education of past and present-day professionals and decision-makers. He also emphasizes the need for internationalization of professional education. This message is congruent with what this book suggests all along: similar problems are encountered across the globe and addressed by a variety of intervention measures. Them is obviously much to be gained by learning from international experience. The article provides some examples of curricula, and if the professional community will act upon some of these ideas. it may be a most profound contribution toward the betterment of the transportation system. Part IV of the book is devoted to environmental issues, so much intertwined in the future of T&C. The first paper, by Lennart Schotte, is a short review of the environmental situation in Europe. It provides some statistics on pollution in different regions in Europe. but even those are not quite clear and no reference is provided. The message that air pollution is an international problem, and that transboundary movements take place, has been put forward in other contributions in the book, and expressed better. Kenneth Small provides an excellent contribution to the book. He assumes an economic approach to addressing environmental problems, looking at both conventional air pollution and greenhouse effects. There are two important messages in this article. The first is that improvements in congestion are likely to be attained primarily through policies that limit
the freedom to use the car, such as parking restriction, carpool incentives, and - most importantly in my mind road pricing. Charging for the right to use the road and to pollute is increasingly surfacing on the agenda. and in some places experiments are under way. Other authors in the book. including some government officials, have alluded to that option as a necessary measure in future transportation problems (eg Button. Sandhager and Larson). It is important that this politically unpopular idea be discussed and scrutinized, as it seems to be a promising and necessary route for improvement in the future. This leads to the second important point in Small’s article, namely that those concerned with environmental policies must recognize the fact that within a context of affluent, highly interconnected societies... personal control mobility is very highly valued and will be a dominant motivation in policy formulation (p 243). Thus the evolution of policies that curb individual mobility is likely to require a very long lead time, and therefore should be presented and discussed in any discussion of the future of T&C. Kerstin Lindahl-Kiessling discusses the human aspects of communications and infrastructure. To the environmentally motivated person, she suggests, the use of the automobile is quite irrational. However. as she points out. in a rather journalistic yet intriguing style. people (particularly men) assign a set of values to the use of the automobile that favour it over the alternatives. This article should be presented not only to professional audiences but also to the public at large. and not only in Sweden. The last article. by Hans Fosberg, discusses the technological options with regard to the environment. It is well written and provides an up-todate assessment of what can be expected and what should not be expected of technology in the discussion of future transportation systems. In summary. the articles vary in quality and style. Some are excellent. while others would probably fail the review process if they were to stand 199
Book reviews
alone. In many, there are no references to support the arguments, and consequently their utility is limited to that of general statements. A collection of articles written by so many authors, most of whom are not native English speakers, calls for some language styling. It is surprising that the publisher did not undertake this effort, and produced a volume with dozens of typographical, spelling and language errors, not to mention tables that are not even in English. All these distract the reader’s mind from the important content, and many could be avoided by the simple use of a common speller. To increase the utility of the book to more than merely a volume of proceedings, an index would have been handy. The major substantive shortcoming of the book is the focus on the developed world, particularly Europe, without recognizing (with the exception of Button) that much of the future transportation problems are expected in the developing world. However, the value of the volume must be seen in its entirety: does the reader obtain more benefit from the collection than would have accrued from the individual papers? While not all articles donate equally to this test, there are enough good and even excellent articles to justify the time to read through it. Ilan Salomon Department of Geography Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel References
Handy, S, Mokhtarian, P and Salomon, I (forthcoming) ‘Methodological issues in the estimation of travel, energy and air quality impacts of telecommuting’ TransportationResearch A
Nakicenovic, N (1989) ‘Expanding territories: transport systems past and future’ in Transportationfor the Future Springer Verlag, pp 4346 Developing Partnerships in Sport and Leisure: A Practical Guide
B Simmonds Longntan, Harlow (1994) 96 pp &32 ISBN 0 582 23903 6
A book on partnerships is certainly timely, as providers of sport and leisure are more and more compelled 200
to seek new sources of revenue. A book of this nature is particularly useful, as there are few recent or readily available printed materials on this topic. The topic was particularly appealing to me because of my own interest and research in this area, and I began reading with enthusiasm. Although many agencies from both the public and private sectors frequently enter partnerships for the provision of sport and leisure, far too often one or both partners are unhappy with the result because of inadequate preparation prior to entering the partnership. They may fail to understand the amount of communication and cooperation that is necessary for a partnership to succeed. Some may fail to recognize the risks involved in any partnership A resource that maps the course around many of the common pitfalls of partnership is needed for those who contemplate entering such a relationship. The first several chapters of Developing Partnerships in Sport and Leisure: A Practical Guide address the
history of partnerships, and the government regulations that control them in the UK. Chapters 6-8 contain numerous examples of partnerships, and the final chapters focus on potential problems and guidelines for developing successful partnerships. Simmonds traces the history of partnerships and the increasing need for public sector organizations to receive financial support from the private sector if the provision of services is to continue in the area of sport and leisure. Changes in governmental policies, ie the 50% rule, that impact on the ability of public authorities to develop sport and leisure projects and/or to attract private-sector partners are described. Attention is also given to the history of governmental financial support of sport and leisure facilities in the UK and how that support is decreasing. Simmonds then devotes some space to explaining who the private sector are and the types of sport and leisure partnerships that are appealing to them. After laying a foundation of information regarding partnerships in the UK, Simmonds describes various partnerships and provides key points to identify aspects that contributed to
the success, and in some cases, failure, of the partnership. Chapter 6 provides 30 examples of successful and unsuccessful partnerships designed to raise capital funding to refurbish or build sport facilities. Chapters 7 and 8 include an additional nine examples of revenue-raising partnerships with compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) as well as other organizations. The final chapters of the book address potential problems, charitable status, and guidelines for developing partnerships. This is the weakest area of the book. In the first chapter, the author indicated that the book was a ‘practical guide’ (p 1) to developing partnerships, which suggests that the reader might find a number of helpful suggestions in creating a partnership. The three chapters that address this aspect total nine pages, and the comments are extremely general in nature. Although information on this topic is somewhat limited, no reference was made to publications that offer some concrete suggestions for developing and maintaining successful partnerships (eg Howard and Crompton, 1980; Lathan and Caudillo, 1983; Crossley, 1986; McAvoy et al, 1991). A major shortcoming of the book is the inadequate citations. For example, on p 18, a direct quote is taken from ‘an article in a national newspaper’, yet no reference is provided to enable the reader to locate that.article if desired. Additionally, on p 12, the results of a Sports Council survey are presented, but no citation is provided. The same is true on p 18, where statistics are given regarding amounts spent on gambling in the UK, with no citation provided. When the source is cited in the text, the citation provided in the references is too often incomplete. In several instances, Business in Sport and Leisure (BISL) is indicated as the source for information, yet the reference does not include the address of BISL, nor could I find the address in the Index or Introduction. In other instances, it appears that the author obtained information by means of personal communication with an organization, as the name and phone number of the organization is provided, but there is no indication as to who provided the information or when it was obtained.
I suspect that Dorothy Riddle, whose much quoted arguments are elsewhere, would not approve of this neglect of the real productivity contribution of services. These debates, both of which are about the role of service functions in relation to other activities, are important for students to understand if they are to move their thinking beyond the conventional obsession with services versus manufacturing activities, and with activity classifications that are universally condemned as inadequate. These dissatisfactions arise largely from Chapter 1, a collection of ‘factual and theoretical perspectives’. although by their nature they pervade the rest of the book. Its positive qualities emerge more clearly later, as the focus shifts to international trade, mainly in financial and business services, and its implications for urban development. The approach nevertheless remains somewhat episodic, summarizing diverse, mainly empirical material. Chapter 2 perhaps suffers most from this disjointedness, reviewing the causes for growing service tradability. There are summary discussions of relevant developments in information technology. transportation, and service multinationals, including three UK case studies. Some attempt is made at general explanation, based on Dunning’s eclectic approach. and Vandermerwe and Chadwick’s analysis of modes of international service delivery. The most useful section here is on government influences on service trade. and barriers to it, exemplified by the Single Market proposals for the European Community. and the 1988 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. Chapter 3 is the core of this part of the book. on ‘International trade and foreign direct investment in services’. This is detailed and informative, outlining patterns and trends in service trade, including measurement problems. and the nature of service Parallel comparative advantage. developments in service FDI are also reviewed. After some discussion of the implications for developing countries and Eastern Europe/former CIS. there is a concise but clear summary of the issues faced by the
GATT in liberalizing global service trade. The last two substantive chapters bring information together on the significance of international service exchange for the global urban system. Why do high-level services concentrate in, and define world cities? In particular, what have been the key developments in the financial service sector? Then attention is directed to consequent changes in the internal structures of these cities, including employment patterns, urban property markets, and changing patterns of service location. Although drawing on a range of examples, the most detailed discussion is based on London, including the problems of the Docklands Canary Wharf development. Much of this material is already quite accessible. but it is valuable for students to have preliminary access to it in textbook form. In the final chapter, Daniels reflects briefly on some critical questions about the future of service developments. Will service growth continue, after the 1980s ‘decade of optimism’? Recent setbacks and doubts are reviewed, although there is no mention of the Thurow thesis that many service developments then were based on ‘one-off’ events. Are service-dominated economies desirable? I think he suggests that this is the wrong question to ask. Is service globalization inevitable? Probably only for very specific financial and information functions. What is the remaining potential of telecommunications to replace human mobility? Considerable, for example through video-conferencing and teleworking. but again constrained by organizational and social influences. The main theme that Daniels seeks to demonstrate is the growing ‘tradability’ of activities traditionally seen as dominated by local exchange, and which still depend so much on direct contacts between producer and consumer. The evidence that he presents for the growing global significance of service functions certainly provides ammunition to counter their past neglect, and an accessible student introduction to these issues. His selection and organization of material is not always convincing, however, and
the book lacks conceptual coherence with regard to some important aspects of the economic role of services. The author might well argue, as he has in the past, that such incoherence is inherent in service studies. New perspectives on the very nature of modern economies, especially arising from changing patterns of sectoral and geographical interdependence, have nevertheless been encouraged by modern service analysis. These have affected our view of many of both production aspects and consumption changes, including the nature of comparative advantage, and thus the bases of service competition and trade. Peter Wood Department of Geography, University College London, UK
The Future of Transportation and Communication: Visions and Perspectives from Europe, Japan and the USA
Roland Thord (ed) Springer Verlag, Berlin (1993) 265 pp DM 128 ISBN 3 530 56377 6
This book is a collection of 16 papers presented at a conference sponsored by the Swedish National Road Administration. As the book’s subtitle suggests, it offers a diversity of perspectives on the subject. The diversity is accomplished not only by the geographical background from which the authors come, but also by the balance between academics and representatives of various government agencies. While one could argue that a discussion of the future of transportation and communications (T&C) could benefit from contributions from industry as well. I find the editor’s decision not to focus on the pure technological aspects a wise one. A brief and useful review of the technological is provided by aspects Forsberg in the concluding article of the book. There are two ‘tests’ to which a book of this genre can be submitted. First and foremost, does the reader learn about the subject that is offered by the book title? In this case. the test of each 197
Book reviews article and the collection as a whole is: to what degree does one learn about the future of T&C systems? The second ‘test’ is a more technical one: assuming the book does deliver on its content, is it done in an eloquent, effective and persuasive manner? Thus, what we have learned about the future is the main criterion by which the articles are evaluated below. The book is divided into four parts: I Visions of the future arenas, II Regional perspectives, III Network perspectives and IV Environmental perspectives. Each contains four papers. Ake Andersson provides the ‘grand picture’ of the transition from the industrial age to the C-society (the communications society). One of the main features of the C-society is the existence of a multilayered network of infrastructure, facilitating the movement of assorted products: bulk, small parcels, people and, increasingly, information. This will lead to the creation of C-regions across Europe, in which much of the knowledge production will take place. Needless to say, such regions span across national boundaries, and the T&C systems must be there to support and facilitate such a change. One shortcoming of Andersson’s vision of the future C-society is the comparison of infrastructure networks serving diverse transportation technologies. The length of the airline network cannot simply be compared with that of the road, rail or canal networks because, first, it is a network in which the vast investment is at the nodes and not at the links, and second, it is an instantaneous infrastructure: ie the length can be continuously adjusted to demand, without any sunk investments. Moreover, the comparison of the length does not imply what level of utilization exits on the networks. Thus concluding, based on Nakicenovic (1989) that we are moving away from the road, seems to be a misinterpretation. The parallel to the European case is described in Kiyoshi Kobayashi’s article on Japan. Following a short cultural introduction, the author describes the development of T&C infrastructure in Japan as a consequence of regional policy. He points at the concurrent social and economic changes, which are probably both a drive for and a result 198
of the development of a dense highspeed T&C infrastructure in Japan. The prospects of employing a similar strategy for regional interactivity at the Pacific Rim, with Japan as the focal point, are again emphasizing the internationalization of T&C systems. An excellent statement on the future of European T&C is provided in Kenneth Button’s article. As what the future entails depends not only on what is likely to happen, but also on ‘what we would wish to happen’, it is necessary to emphasize the role of policy in shaping the future. Button analyses the background trends and the forces of change, including the role of the European Community, the changes occurring in Eastern Europe, the growing importance of the environmental factor, technical and industrial changes and external forces. This analysis leads to a discussion and evaluation, albeit at a level of generof possible ality, of the array responses. Some of the ‘buzz’ words in the field, such as modal integration, fiscal reform, and privatization, are explained and put into perspective. The article is well referenced and is extremely useful to both new and veteran students of the field. The last article in this part, by Richard Schonberger, claims to address issues of teamwork, communication and synchronization across space. It provides a number of examples to demonstrate how organizations adopt new technologies and, with them, new organizational approaches. However, the arguments are not founded on prior (cited) research, and it looks more like a collection of anecdotes than a learned statement on what the future holds. The regional perspectives of Part II include those of central Europe, Eastern Europe, the USA and Japan. I have some reservations about the titles, which claim to be ‘the’ perspective; ‘a’ perspective might have been more appropriate: the central European perspective is strictly a German one, the Eastern European perspective is Russian. Comparing the perspectives brought forward in these four articles is very illustrative. The article by Heinz Sandhager Sandhager on Germany emphasizes the problems
emanating from the unification of Germany: the need to upgrade the infrastructure in the former DDR to the standards prevailing in central Europe. Such massive construction within a country that has already recognized the environmental costs of transportation required special legislation that will enable planning and construction in less than 10-15 years while maintaining the public’s ability to be involved in the process. By contrast, the Eastern European perspective, by Igor Kiselev is preoccupied with infrastructure development. It is an interesting account of the transportation problems in the Leningrad area, but it leaves much to be desired. The economic information is quite unintelligible, and there is no mention of either institutional or environmental issues. The basic claim is that the infrastructure is far from that of Western standards. Unfortunately, the discussion does not elevate to the problem of the future: will Eastern European countries pursue major investments in infrastructure without an internalization of the lessons learned in Western European countries? Frog leaps may be more desired than practicable, but we should at least discuss their potential. The article by Thomas Larson, the head of the US Federal Highway Administration, is a well-structured presentation of present and future transportation problems. The role of new information technology (IVHS) in improving the performance of road systems is discussed, as are issues of financing and environmental concerns. It seems that a bit too much is expected from the potential substitution of telecommunications for travel (Handy et al, forthcoming). Perhaps one aspect of the conference that is exemplified through this article more than others is the overwhelming focus on road transport. I would expect a futures perspective to command an increasingly integrative approach, and I would have liked an American speaking to a European audience to pay some attention to the implications of ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, the US policy that requires consideration of intermodal effects). Nevertheless, this article is one of the best in the collection.
Book reviews
Kazahira Yoshikawa, presenting the Japanese perspective, takes an interesting course to introduce the reader to the future of Japan’s T&C Systems. He describes the development of infrastructure as an outcome of the political structure in Japanese history. This leads to a description of present-day and future infrastructure in Japan. The concluding paragraph of the Japanese perspective cites Walt Disney as saying ‘If we can dream it we can do it’. One is led to believe that this is the rule. as the impressive rail, tunnel, road and offshore airports are developed, and no economic. institutional or environmental barriers are alluded to, at least in the article. Part III opens with a technical paper on infrastructure, productivity and growth by Born Johansson. Although the econometric model presented here is interesting in its attempt to address the spatial aspect of infrastructure’s impacts on productivity. the article is somewhat out of place. It also suffers from some lack of clarity in the notation and in the tables. A paper of this nature calls for d careful examination of clarity, as is common in journal publications. Folke Snickars argues for the need for a systems perspective on infrastructure planning. The Swedish National Road Administration, as is the case in many other countries, is a modal agency responsible for one type of infrastructure. Needless to say, agencies mode-based may often develop and promote suboptimal solutions, as they lack the responsibility. and sometimes the vision, to pursue a broader perspective. With the forthcoming complexity of transportation problems, and particularly the externalities involved. Snickars’ call for a systems view of planning is very much in place. Willem Westerhuis. the director of the International Road Federation, provides a very brief ‘pro-road’ statement: roads will continue to be the backbone of European transport, and hence even Brussels has woken up to the fact that their notable preoccupation with the promotion of high-speed rail links and combined transport is
no more than scratching the surface of the problem. (p 104) Although throughout the book there is a road system flavour, I still think that in view of the complexity of the problem that is set forth by some of the participants. this declaration is quite provocative. Klaus Kunzmann provides a very important and interesting angle to the discussion of the future of T&C, namely the necessary education that is required to tackle the forthcoming challenges. He argues that education must be interdisciplinary, suggesting that some of the problems we are facing today may be an outcome of more strict and narrow disciplinary education of past and present-day professionals and decision-makers. He also emphasizes the need for internationalization of professional education. This message is congruent with what this book suggests all along: similar problems are encountered across the globe and addressed by a variety of intervention measures. Them is obviously much to be gained by learning from international experience. The article provides some examples of curricula, and if the professional community will act upon some of these ideas. it may be a most profound contribution toward the betterment of the transportation system. Part IV of the book is devoted to environmental issues, so much intertwined in the future of T&C. The first paper, by Lennart Schotte, is a short review of the environmental situation in Europe. It provides some statistics on pollution in different regions in Europe. but even those are not quite clear and no reference is provided. The message that air pollution is an international problem, and that transboundary movements take place, has been put forward in other contributions in the book, and expressed better. Kenneth Small provides an excellent contribution to the book. He assumes an economic approach to addressing environmental problems, looking at both conventional air pollution and greenhouse effects. There are two important messages in this article. The first is that improvements in congestion are likely to be attained primarily through policies that limit
the freedom to use the car, such as parking restriction, carpool incentives, and - most importantly in my mind road pricing. Charging for the right to use the road and to pollute is increasingly surfacing on the agenda. and in some places experiments are under way. Other authors in the book. including some government officials, have alluded to that option as a necessary measure in future transportation problems (eg Button. Sandhager and Larson). It is important that this politically unpopular idea be discussed and scrutinized, as it seems to be a promising and necessary route for improvement in the future. This leads to the second important point in Small’s article, namely that those concerned with environmental policies must recognize the fact that within a context of affluent, highly interconnected societies... personal control mobility is very highly valued and will be a dominant motivation in policy formulation (p 243). Thus the evolution of policies that curb individual mobility is likely to require a very long lead time, and therefore should be presented and discussed in any discussion of the future of T&C. Kerstin Lindahl-Kiessling discusses the human aspects of communications and infrastructure. To the environmentally motivated person, she suggests, the use of the automobile is quite irrational. However. as she points out. in a rather journalistic yet intriguing style. people (particularly men) assign a set of values to the use of the automobile that favour it over the alternatives. This article should be presented not only to professional audiences but also to the public at large. and not only in Sweden. The last article. by Hans Fosberg, discusses the technological options with regard to the environment. It is well written and provides an up-todate assessment of what can be expected and what should not be expected of technology in the discussion of future transportation systems. In summary. the articles vary in quality and style. Some are excellent. while others would probably fail the review process if they were to stand 199
Book reviews
alone. In many, there are no references to support the arguments, and consequently their utility is limited to that of general statements. A collection of articles written by so many authors, most of whom are not native English speakers, calls for some language styling. It is surprising that the publisher did not undertake this effort, and produced a volume with dozens of typographical, spelling and language errors, not to mention tables that are not even in English. All these distract the reader’s mind from the important content, and many could be avoided by the simple use of a common speller. To increase the utility of the book to more than merely a volume of proceedings, an index would have been handy. The major substantive shortcoming of the book is the focus on the developed world, particularly Europe, without recognizing (with the exception of Button) that much of the future transportation problems are expected in the developing world. However, the value of the volume must be seen in its entirety: does the reader obtain more benefit from the collection than would have accrued from the individual papers? While not all articles donate equally to this test, there are enough good and even excellent articles to justify the time to read through it. Ilan Salomon Department of Geography Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel References
Handy, S, Mokhtarian, P and Salomon, I (forthcoming) ‘Methodological issues in the estimation of travel, energy and air quality impacts of telecommuting’ TransportationResearch A
Nakicenovic, N (1989) ‘Expanding territories: transport systems past and future’ in Transportationfor the Future Springer Verlag, pp 4346 Developing Partnerships in Sport and Leisure: A Practical Guide
B Simmonds Longntan, Harlow (1994) 96 pp &32 ISBN 0 582 23903 6
A book on partnerships is certainly timely, as providers of sport and leisure are more and more compelled 200
to seek new sources of revenue. A book of this nature is particularly useful, as there are few recent or readily available printed materials on this topic. The topic was particularly appealing to me because of my own interest and research in this area, and I began reading with enthusiasm. Although many agencies from both the public and private sectors frequently enter partnerships for the provision of sport and leisure, far too often one or both partners are unhappy with the result because of inadequate preparation prior to entering the partnership. They may fail to understand the amount of communication and cooperation that is necessary for a partnership to succeed. Some may fail to recognize the risks involved in any partnership A resource that maps the course around many of the common pitfalls of partnership is needed for those who contemplate entering such a relationship. The first several chapters of Developing Partnerships in Sport and Leisure: A Practical Guide address the
history of partnerships, and the government regulations that control them in the UK. Chapters 6-8 contain numerous examples of partnerships, and the final chapters focus on potential problems and guidelines for developing successful partnerships. Simmonds traces the history of partnerships and the increasing need for public sector organizations to receive financial support from the private sector if the provision of services is to continue in the area of sport and leisure. Changes in governmental policies, ie the 50% rule, that impact on the ability of public authorities to develop sport and leisure projects and/or to attract private-sector partners are described. Attention is also given to the history of governmental financial support of sport and leisure facilities in the UK and how that support is decreasing. Simmonds then devotes some space to explaining who the private sector are and the types of sport and leisure partnerships that are appealing to them. After laying a foundation of information regarding partnerships in the UK, Simmonds describes various partnerships and provides key points to identify aspects that contributed to
the success, and in some cases, failure, of the partnership. Chapter 6 provides 30 examples of successful and unsuccessful partnerships designed to raise capital funding to refurbish or build sport facilities. Chapters 7 and 8 include an additional nine examples of revenue-raising partnerships with compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) as well as other organizations. The final chapters of the book address potential problems, charitable status, and guidelines for developing partnerships. This is the weakest area of the book. In the first chapter, the author indicated that the book was a ‘practical guide’ (p 1) to developing partnerships, which suggests that the reader might find a number of helpful suggestions in creating a partnership. The three chapters that address this aspect total nine pages, and the comments are extremely general in nature. Although information on this topic is somewhat limited, no reference was made to publications that offer some concrete suggestions for developing and maintaining successful partnerships (eg Howard and Crompton, 1980; Lathan and Caudillo, 1983; Crossley, 1986; McAvoy et al, 1991). A major shortcoming of the book is the inadequate citations. For example, on p 18, a direct quote is taken from ‘an article in a national newspaper’, yet no reference is provided to enable the reader to locate that.article if desired. Additionally, on p 12, the results of a Sports Council survey are presented, but no citation is provided. The same is true on p 18, where statistics are given regarding amounts spent on gambling in the UK, with no citation provided. When the source is cited in the text, the citation provided in the references is too often incomplete. In several instances, Business in Sport and Leisure (BISL) is indicated as the source for information, yet the reference does not include the address of BISL, nor could I find the address in the Index or Introduction. In other instances, it appears that the author obtained information by means of personal communication with an organization, as the name and phone number of the organization is provided, but there is no indication as to who provided the information or when it was obtained.