Measuring access in Australian cities
In the last decade transport practice has seen a shift in thinking from mobility to accessibility-based approaches. Where mobility-based approaches maintained a relatively narrow focus on increasing movement and assessing the transport network in isolation to other parts of the urban system, accessibility-based approaches have a broad focus that aims to enhance the number and variety of exchanges that can be made within a given time period through changes to the relationship between transport services, the mix of activities and building form.
Accessibility-based approaches are seen as a critical way of advancing sustainability agendas because they are generally believed to reduce material resource use and emissions, minimise the land-take required for transport, improve social equity and reduce the generalized cost of transport.
This shift in thinking has created many opportunities for the development of new accessibility-based assessment methods that have implications, not just for transport planning and practice, but other related fields like land-use and social planning.
Accessibility-based approaches to transport provision also open the door to more transdisciplinary-based research of transport and urban development problems. This is because the relationship between transport and other parts of the urban system are seen as central to solving transport problems.
ISF is interested in supporting research aimed at developing new ways of measuring and applying accessibility-based performance indicators to assessing transport and urban development problems in Australian cities.
For further information about this topic contact Dr Michelle Zeibots
Some recent references in this area include:
Becker, U., Gerike, R. and Bšhmer, J. (ed) 2008, How to measure ACCESS: Definition, measurement and consequences of a changed set of objectives in transportation designed to meet the needs of people. Papers from the ESF exploratory workshop, Dresden, September 27-28.
Bertolini, L., le Clercq, F. and Kapoen, L. 2005, 'Sustainable accessibility: a conceptual framework to integrate transport and land use plan-making. Two test-applications in the Netherlands and a reßection on the way forward' in Transport Policy, Vol. 12, pp. 207-220.
Geurs, K.T., van Wee, B. 2004, 'Accessibility evaluation of land-use and transport strategies: review and research direction' in Journal of Transport Geography, Vol. 12, pp.127-140.
Litman, T. 2003, 'Measuring transportation: traffic, mobility and accessibility' in ITE Journal, October Issue, pp. 28-32.
