Traffic geography

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Modes of transport

The transport geography is a branch of geography and belongs to the interdisciplinary research field of Transport Sciences . Traffic geography deals with the relationships between traffic and space or landscape from a wide variety of perspectives. The analysis of transport demand is just as much a part of the research as the sociology of transport and the design of the transport infrastructure . The various sub-areas are considered on an organizational, legal and political level. Influences from other areas of geography and their related sciences also belong to this highly application-oriented sub-discipline.

history

Participation in traffic linked to the basic functions of existence

Transport geography was considered a sub-area of economic geography until the middle of the 20th century . Further approaches come from settlement geography , especially from urban geography . Overcoming distances already played a central role in the classic location theories ( Thünensche Rings , central locations ). For a long time, the main interest lay in the transport of goods. In the course of the increasing spatial separation of the basic functions of existence , passenger traffic increased enormously after the Second World War . The scientific consideration of passenger traffic came to the fore and, influenced by the Munich School of Social Geography, was increasingly considered on the basis of functional approaches (e.g. commuter links). Participation in traffic was now seen as a basic human function. Not only the different traffic purposes were analyzed, but also the respective choice of means of transport. In 1972 the Club of Rome published its study The Limits to Growth and thus also influenced the main research areas within traffic geography. The foreseeable scarcity of resources therefore led to the principle of sustainability being taken into account . Up until the 1990s, this resulted in new focal points within traffic geography. The shift of motorized individual transport to public transport, the transfer of freight transport to rail, and the pedestrian-friendly design of inner city areas and residential areas became central issues. The trend in development is increasingly towards problem-oriented working methods. The focus is no longer on the pure analysis of the traffic in its relationship structure, but also on the active design and influencing of the traffic situation. The exchange with other disciplines also plays a major role. The far too supply-oriented traffic geography was now being looked at more and more from the demand side. The needs of traffic consumers on the one hand and the awareness of the need to avoid traffic on the other hand characterize the current phase of traffic geography.

Fields of activity

As an interdisciplinary scientific discipline, transport geography is in close contact with other disciplines within and outside of geography. Transport geography is one of the transport sciences and has a strong interaction with business administration , spatial research , regional planning and applied geography . The latter in particular plays an important role in the course of using geographical knowledge to solve social, spatial problems. According to Schliephake, the working directions of traffic geography can be distinguished as follows:

  • The Quantitative transport geography , marked by the Anglo-American Geography, based in the consideration of the traffic especially on the use of statistical , quantitative methods.
  • The geography of human traffic activities is one of the socio - scientific sub-areas of traffic geography . It sees traffic in connection with humans and their basic functions of existence and thus belongs to behavior-oriented geography.
  • The economically oriented transport geography examines the interaction between transport supply and transport demand in its regional differences, both on a quantitative and qualitative level.
  • The ecological and environment-related research approach has established itself as a newer work direction . Among other things, this deals with the ecological problems of increasing individual traffic and is shaped by the idea of sustainability .
  • The Applied transport geography is considered recent work direction and is especially devoted to the problem-related research. This includes maintaining a regional public transport offer that is attractive in terms of both quality and quantity, as well as expanding modern transport concepts such as city ​​logistics or freight transport centers .

See also

literature

  • Otto Blum : traffic geography. Springer, Berlin 1936.
  • Jürgen Deiters u. a. (Ed.): National Atlas of the Federal Republic of Germany. Tape. 9: Transport and communication. Spectrum - Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2001, ISBN 3-8274-0941-1 .
  • Matthias Gather, Andreas Kagermeier, Martin Lanzendorf: Geographical mobility and traffic research. Borntraeger, Berlin a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-443-07143-1 ( Geography Study Books ).
  • University of Transport (ed.): Haack Atlas Weltverkehr. World atlas of transportation and communications. Haack Verlag, Gotha 1985.
  • Thomas J. Mager, Johannes Klühspies (Ed.): Traffic in research . ksv Kölner Stadt- und Verkehrsverlag, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-940685-02-5 ( traffic research ).
  • Jörg Maier , Heinz-Dieter Atzkern: traffic geography . Traffic structures, traffic policy, traffic planning. Teubner, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-519-03428-X ( Teubner study books. Geography ).
  • Helmut Nuhn, Hesse Markus: traffic geography. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2006, ISBN 3-8252-2687-5 ( UTB 2687).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helmut Nuhn, Markus Hesse: Verkehrsgeographie . Schöningh, Paderborn [a. a.] 2006, ISBN 3-8252-2687-5 , p. 9.
  2. ↑ Hendrik Ammoser, Mirko Hoppe: Glossary of Transport and Transport Sciences (PDF; 1.3 MB), published in the series discussion contributions from the Institute for Economics and Transport , Dresden 2006, ISSN  1433-626X
  3. ↑ Hans Gebhardt et al .: Geography: Physical geography and human geography. Elsevier, Spektrum, Akad. Verlag, Munich / Heidelberg 2007, p. 735 f.
  4. ^ Heinz Heineberg : Introduction to anthropogeography, human geography . Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2003, p. 208.