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Transport sociology: Social aspects of transport planning
0191.2607Wl 13.00+.00 @ 1990 Rrgamon Press pk
Tmnspn. Res..A. Vol. 24% No. 2. PP. 163-164. 1990 Printed in Great Bruin.
BOOK REVIEWS reviews, brief notices of recent publications, and occasional special features. Publishers and authors are invited to submit material. Persons wishing to review books are invited to submit their name and describe their area of interest. Our policy is to provide at least a brief notice of all recently received material in the area of coverage of the journal, provided that it is of substantial length and not of an
advertising nature. AN correspondence should be addressed to:
Transport Sociology: Social Aspects of Transport Planning. Enne de Boer, ed. Pergamon Press, Max-
the world. Here it simply serves as a way for de Boer to comment at length on any subject which strikes his fancy, and to republish any article which treats an issue he thinks holds interest. The book opens with de Boer’s introduction to transport sociology, adapted from a 1980 conference presentation. Subsequent text is divided into four parts, each introduced by a lengthy essay by de Boer: The Social Impacts of Infrastructure, The Street, The Lack of Mobility, and Ideology. Each section contains from two to four very old articles (the mean and median year of publication of the 12 articles is 1975!). Each article somehow, often tenuously, treats the issues defined as important by de Boer. Professor de Boer’s commentaries lack focus and direction. They read as if he were in a time warp, commenting on the world as it was in 1960. He has some good ideas and he raises some provocative questions, but his insights are imprisoned by his need to cite obscure and often irrelevant work by others. Moreover, few of his insights seem to be developed or complemented by the actual articles he has chosen to illustrate them. Make no mistake-he has chosen several articles that made a difference in their time, and a few that have lasting relevance. He includes two articles by the late Donald Appleyard (with others) discussing the ‘life of the street,’ and two prescient and thoughtful pieces by Mayer Hillman (with others) on rhe problems facing the careless. He adds Torsten Hagerstrand’s “What About People in Regional Science?” because it is “famous though inaccessible” (p. S), although he does nothing to make it more accessible. And he adds an article by Harmut Frank, which may originally have been published only in German,
The Book Review Section carries full-length
LYN
LONG
Editor, Book Reviews Institute of Transportation Studies University of California Irvine, CA 92717 II;S.A.
well House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, NY, 10523, U.S.A., 1986. 231 pp.+xi. ISBN o-08-023686-3. $62.00. This book is an idiosyncratic collection of fairly old articles on far flung topics in transportation planning. It is clearly what Americans call a ‘reader’: a collection of readings required for a university course. Most of the articles are very good. But most are also fairly well known to North American academics, are easily available, and in many cases, have been supplanted by more recent work by the same authors. Only two of the articles are by Europeans whose work may be unknown to the English-speaking world. Professor de Boer’s organizing theme is the development of a subdiscipline of sociology called transport sociology. Transport sociology requires us to address the “social aspects of transport planning,” and appears to cover everything from street noise to the problems of the handicapped. de Boer’s introduction mentions that the Dutch first used the term ‘4 . . . not earlier than 1959. Thereafter it was not, or scarcely ever, used . . . ” (p. 7). He notes that other European researchers, too, failed to use the concept. Little wonder. It is indisputable that many transportation planners pay too much attention to the technical side of the field. It is equally clear that just as many planners pay too little attention to the social impact of transportation facilities (or the lack thereof) on people and their communities. Still, that recognition hardly constitutes a paradigm from which to usefully view
163
164
Book Reviews
which describes societal dependence on the car from a fascinating Marxist perspective. Yet most of the twelve articles are well known and have been superceded by later work or developments. Some simply do not bear repeating. Reading very old articles can be important if they still make a contribution, or if they are seen as ‘period pieces,’ giving insight into historical thought processes. As a group, these articles serve neither purpose. While it was nice to reread some of these authors again, the overwhelming feeling the collection engenders is the one you get when you look through old photographs: you are amazed that anyone or anything ever looked that way. And you are glad things have changed. SANDRAROSENBLOOM
Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX78712-1160 LI;S.A.
BRIEFNOTES
Vehicle Operating Costs: Evidence from Developing Countries. Andrew Chesher and Robert Harrison.
World Bank, $27.95.
1987. 317 pp. ISBN o-8018-3588-7.
Presents an economic model of firms’ management of vehicle fleets, which serves as a framework for the statistical analysis of vehicle operating cost data.
Vehicle Speeds and Operating Costs: Models for Road Planning and Management. Thawat Watanata-
da, Ashok M. Dhareshwar, and Paul0 Roberto S. Rezende Lima. World Bank, 1987. 460 pp. ISBN O8018-3589-j. $32.95. Presents the theory and estimation of a comprehensive set of models to predict speeds and operating costs under free-flow conditions for a wide range of vehicles on medium and low-volume roads as functions of road geometry and condition.
The Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Series. (A World Bank Publication). 5 ~01s. Johns
Hopkins University Press, 701 W. 40th Street, Suite 275, Baltimore, MD 21211, U.S.A., 1988. ISBN O8018-3668-9 (5-volume set). $75.95. To provide road design and maintenance standards appropriate to the physical and economic circumstances of developing countries, the World Bank in 1969 instituted the Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Study, a major project involving leading research institutions in Australia, Brazil, France, India, Kenya, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The goals of the study were the rigorous empirical quantification of cost trade-offs between road construction, maintenance, and vehicle operating costs; and, as a basis for highway decision making, the development of planning models incorporating total life-cycle cost simulation. Controlled experiments and extensive road user surveys were conducted to provide comprehensive data on highway conditions and vehicle operating costs in radically different economic environments on three continents. The five volumes in the series represent the culmination of the Is-year research project, along with a computerized highway sector planning and investment model, currently in its third version (HDM-III). The first three volumes in the series provide theoretical foundations and statistical estimation of the underlying physical and economic relationships. The other two volumes discuss the HDM-III model and its use. Individual volumes in the series are available at the price listed below from: The World Bank, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433, U.S.A.
Road Deterioration and Maintenance Effects: Models for Planning and Management. William D. 0. Paterson. World Bank, 1987. 352 pp. ISBN 0-80183590 -9. $32.95.
Contains an extensive analysis of the physical processes, causes of deterioration, and performance prediction relationships, as well as the effectiveness of maintenance practices on unpaved and paved roads.
The Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model. Volume 1. Description of the HD,M-III Model. Thawat Watanatada, Clell G. Harral, William D.
0. Paterson, Ashok M. Dhareshwar, Anil Bhandari, and Koji Tsunokawa. World Bank, 1987. 280 pp. ISBN o-8018-3091-7. $20.95. The Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model. Volume 2. User’s Manual for the HDM-III Model. Thawat Watanatada, Clell G. Harral, William D. 0. Paterson, Ashok M. Dhareshwar, Anil Bhandari, And Koji Tsunokawa. World Bank, 1987. 391 pp. ISBN o-8018-3592-5. $27.95. Volume 1 organizes relationships described in the first three volumes, as well as a road construction submodel, into interacting sets of costs related to construction, maintenance, and road use. Volume 2 provides guidance on the use of this model -including input data forms, inference ranges, and default values - and gives numerical examples.
Tmnspn. Res..A. Vol. 24% No. 2. PP. 163-164. 1990 Printed in Great Bruin.
BOOK REVIEWS reviews, brief notices of recent publications, and occasional special features. Publishers and authors are invited to submit material. Persons wishing to review books are invited to submit their name and describe their area of interest. Our policy is to provide at least a brief notice of all recently received material in the area of coverage of the journal, provided that it is of substantial length and not of an
advertising nature. AN correspondence should be addressed to:
Transport Sociology: Social Aspects of Transport Planning. Enne de Boer, ed. Pergamon Press, Max-
the world. Here it simply serves as a way for de Boer to comment at length on any subject which strikes his fancy, and to republish any article which treats an issue he thinks holds interest. The book opens with de Boer’s introduction to transport sociology, adapted from a 1980 conference presentation. Subsequent text is divided into four parts, each introduced by a lengthy essay by de Boer: The Social Impacts of Infrastructure, The Street, The Lack of Mobility, and Ideology. Each section contains from two to four very old articles (the mean and median year of publication of the 12 articles is 1975!). Each article somehow, often tenuously, treats the issues defined as important by de Boer. Professor de Boer’s commentaries lack focus and direction. They read as if he were in a time warp, commenting on the world as it was in 1960. He has some good ideas and he raises some provocative questions, but his insights are imprisoned by his need to cite obscure and often irrelevant work by others. Moreover, few of his insights seem to be developed or complemented by the actual articles he has chosen to illustrate them. Make no mistake-he has chosen several articles that made a difference in their time, and a few that have lasting relevance. He includes two articles by the late Donald Appleyard (with others) discussing the ‘life of the street,’ and two prescient and thoughtful pieces by Mayer Hillman (with others) on rhe problems facing the careless. He adds Torsten Hagerstrand’s “What About People in Regional Science?” because it is “famous though inaccessible” (p. S), although he does nothing to make it more accessible. And he adds an article by Harmut Frank, which may originally have been published only in German,
The Book Review Section carries full-length
LYN
LONG
Editor, Book Reviews Institute of Transportation Studies University of California Irvine, CA 92717 II;S.A.
well House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, NY, 10523, U.S.A., 1986. 231 pp.+xi. ISBN o-08-023686-3. $62.00. This book is an idiosyncratic collection of fairly old articles on far flung topics in transportation planning. It is clearly what Americans call a ‘reader’: a collection of readings required for a university course. Most of the articles are very good. But most are also fairly well known to North American academics, are easily available, and in many cases, have been supplanted by more recent work by the same authors. Only two of the articles are by Europeans whose work may be unknown to the English-speaking world. Professor de Boer’s organizing theme is the development of a subdiscipline of sociology called transport sociology. Transport sociology requires us to address the “social aspects of transport planning,” and appears to cover everything from street noise to the problems of the handicapped. de Boer’s introduction mentions that the Dutch first used the term ‘4 . . . not earlier than 1959. Thereafter it was not, or scarcely ever, used . . . ” (p. 7). He notes that other European researchers, too, failed to use the concept. Little wonder. It is indisputable that many transportation planners pay too much attention to the technical side of the field. It is equally clear that just as many planners pay too little attention to the social impact of transportation facilities (or the lack thereof) on people and their communities. Still, that recognition hardly constitutes a paradigm from which to usefully view
163
164
Book Reviews
which describes societal dependence on the car from a fascinating Marxist perspective. Yet most of the twelve articles are well known and have been superceded by later work or developments. Some simply do not bear repeating. Reading very old articles can be important if they still make a contribution, or if they are seen as ‘period pieces,’ giving insight into historical thought processes. As a group, these articles serve neither purpose. While it was nice to reread some of these authors again, the overwhelming feeling the collection engenders is the one you get when you look through old photographs: you are amazed that anyone or anything ever looked that way. And you are glad things have changed. SANDRAROSENBLOOM
Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX78712-1160 LI;S.A.
BRIEFNOTES
Vehicle Operating Costs: Evidence from Developing Countries. Andrew Chesher and Robert Harrison.
World Bank, $27.95.
1987. 317 pp. ISBN o-8018-3588-7.
Presents an economic model of firms’ management of vehicle fleets, which serves as a framework for the statistical analysis of vehicle operating cost data.
Vehicle Speeds and Operating Costs: Models for Road Planning and Management. Thawat Watanata-
da, Ashok M. Dhareshwar, and Paul0 Roberto S. Rezende Lima. World Bank, 1987. 460 pp. ISBN O8018-3589-j. $32.95. Presents the theory and estimation of a comprehensive set of models to predict speeds and operating costs under free-flow conditions for a wide range of vehicles on medium and low-volume roads as functions of road geometry and condition.
The Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Series. (A World Bank Publication). 5 ~01s. Johns
Hopkins University Press, 701 W. 40th Street, Suite 275, Baltimore, MD 21211, U.S.A., 1988. ISBN O8018-3668-9 (5-volume set). $75.95. To provide road design and maintenance standards appropriate to the physical and economic circumstances of developing countries, the World Bank in 1969 instituted the Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Study, a major project involving leading research institutions in Australia, Brazil, France, India, Kenya, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The goals of the study were the rigorous empirical quantification of cost trade-offs between road construction, maintenance, and vehicle operating costs; and, as a basis for highway decision making, the development of planning models incorporating total life-cycle cost simulation. Controlled experiments and extensive road user surveys were conducted to provide comprehensive data on highway conditions and vehicle operating costs in radically different economic environments on three continents. The five volumes in the series represent the culmination of the Is-year research project, along with a computerized highway sector planning and investment model, currently in its third version (HDM-III). The first three volumes in the series provide theoretical foundations and statistical estimation of the underlying physical and economic relationships. The other two volumes discuss the HDM-III model and its use. Individual volumes in the series are available at the price listed below from: The World Bank, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433, U.S.A.
Road Deterioration and Maintenance Effects: Models for Planning and Management. William D. 0. Paterson. World Bank, 1987. 352 pp. ISBN 0-80183590 -9. $32.95.
Contains an extensive analysis of the physical processes, causes of deterioration, and performance prediction relationships, as well as the effectiveness of maintenance practices on unpaved and paved roads.
The Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model. Volume 1. Description of the HD,M-III Model. Thawat Watanatada, Clell G. Harral, William D.
0. Paterson, Ashok M. Dhareshwar, Anil Bhandari, and Koji Tsunokawa. World Bank, 1987. 280 pp. ISBN o-8018-3091-7. $20.95. The Highway Design and Maintenance Standards Model. Volume 2. User’s Manual for the HDM-III Model. Thawat Watanatada, Clell G. Harral, William D. 0. Paterson, Ashok M. Dhareshwar, Anil Bhandari, And Koji Tsunokawa. World Bank, 1987. 391 pp. ISBN o-8018-3592-5. $27.95. Volume 1 organizes relationships described in the first three volumes, as well as a road construction submodel, into interacting sets of costs related to construction, maintenance, and road use. Volume 2 provides guidance on the use of this model -including input data forms, inference ranges, and default values - and gives numerical examples.