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"Transportation Economic aspects Great Britain."
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Englishmen at Sea
A deeply researched, analytically rich, and vivid account
of England's early maritime empire Drawing on a wealth of
understudied sources, historian Eleanor Hubbard explores the labor
conflicts behind the rise of the English maritime empire.
Freewheeling Elizabethan privateering attracted thousands of young
men to the sea, where they acquired valuable skills and a
reputation for ruthlessness. Peace in 1603 forced these predatory
seamen to adapt to a radically changed world, one in which they
were expected to risk their lives for merchants' gain, not plunder.
Merchant trading companies expected sailors to relinquish their
unruly ways and to help convince overseas rulers and trading
partners that the English were a courteous and trustworthy
\"nation.\" Some sailors rebelled, becoming pirates and renegades;
others demanded and often received concessions and shares in new
trading opportunities. Treated gently by a state that was anxious
to promote seafaring in order to man the navy, these determined
sailors helped to keep the sea a viable and attractive trade for
Englishmen.
eBook
Breaking up is hard to do
In the noise of the debate about the EU, it is rare for fundamental questions to be asked. For example, for what purposes should we have international institutions at all? Does the EU meet those purposes and, if not, is reform possible? This book considers these questions. An international team of renowned authors looks at each area of economic policy in which the EU has an interest, as well as at the governing structures of the EU, and asks what, if anything, the EU should be doing. In most cases, this is then compared with the status quo and against the possibility of Brexit in order to help the reader make a judgement, in each policy area, about which would be the best direction for Britain to take. As well as providing a fine contribution to the Brexit debate, the authors of this book provide a framework for evaluating the results of renegotiation together with a long-term programme for reform. The usefulness of this timely book will long outlive the referendum debate. The book asks - and answers - the fundamental questions that are rarely considered by the political classes.
eBook
The Effect of Transport Accessibility on the Social Inclusion of Wheelchair Users: A Mixed Method Analysis
In recent years the accessibility of London buses has improved with the introduction of ramps and wheelchair priority areas. These advances are meant to remove physical barriers to entering the bus, but new conflicts have arisen particularly over the physical space aboard. We aimed to research the barriers faced by wheelchair users in public transport using a mixed methods approach to establish the breadth of issues faced by wheelchair users. To this end we quantified the push-force used alight a bus and a study to understand the coping mechanisms used by people to propel up a ramp. This quantitative approach found push forces which resulted in a load of 2 to 3 times body weight being transferred through people’s shoulders, forces which can be directly linked to shoulder injury. This could disable the user further, preventing them from being able to push their wheelchair. Alongside the quantitative study, we conducted qualitative research comprising of a number of in-depth interviews with wheelchair users about the barriers they face in public transport. Our main claim, highlighted through this interdisciplinary collaboration, is that proposed ‘solutions’ to accessibility, such as ramps, often generate problems of their own. These barriers can affect the life of wheelchair users, impacting on their confidence and causing social isolation. These can be long-term in nature or immediate.
Journal Article
Encouraging Walking: The Case of Journey-to-school Trips in Compact Urban Areas
An activity-based approach is used to analyse one specific short-trip purpose that has persistently frustrated transport analysts trying to induce more walk, cycle or public transport based trips. This study of the journey-to-school trip is motivated by a general consensus that, to effect a more sustainable transport system, there is a necessity to reduce car use (especially for short trips). Resistance to modal transfer from cars has been shown to be embedded in various psycho-social obstacles which are not readily teased out in orthodox econometric studies of travel demand. We report on an empirical study which fuses psychometric (construction of coping scales) and econometric analyses (logit analysis) in an attempt to uncover the psychological and sociological factors influencing modal choice, as well as the usual range of economic and demographic factors.
Journal Article
Roads to power : Britain invents the infrastructure state
Roads to Power tells the story of how Britain built the first nation connected by infrastructure, how a libertarian revolution destroyed a national economy, and how technology caused strangers to stop speaking.
In early eighteenth-century Britain, nothing but dirt track ran between most towns. By 1848 the primitive roads were transformed into a network of highways connecting every village and island in the nation—and also dividing them in unforeseen ways. The highway network led to contests for control over everything from road management to market access. Peripheries like the Highlands demanded that centralized government pay for roads they could not afford, while English counties wanted to be spared the cost of underwriting roads to Scotland. The new network also transformed social relationships. Although travelers moved along the same routes, they occupied increasingly isolated spheres. The roads were the product of a new form of government, the infrastructure state, marked by the unprecedented control bureaucrats wielded over decisions relating to everyday life.
Does information really work to unite strangers? Do markets unite nations and peoples in common interests? There are lessons here for all who would end poverty or design their markets around the principle of participation. Guldi draws direct connections between traditional infrastructure and the contemporary collapse of the American Rust Belt, the decline of American infrastructure, the digital divide, and net neutrality. In the modern world, infrastructure is our principal tool for forging new communities, but it cannot outlast the control of governance by visionaries.
eBook
Climate change and road freight safety: a multidisciplinary exploration
The freight and logistics sector is of significant importance as an enabler and driver of the global economy, but it is also inherently vulnerable to hazardous weather. Despite this, there is currently no quantitative assessment of how climate change may affect the sector. This paper applies multidisciplinary climate change impact assessment tools and conceptual frameworks to the road freight sector of Great Britain in order to identify potential future weather-related safety issues. Relationships between weather and freight accidents are determined using road accident data and meteorological observations, which are then used with climate change scenarios to arrive at projections of possible impacts across the regions of Great Britain. Included in the study are industry perceptions of future trends within the sector and wider economy which many affect freight’s exposure and sensitivity to weather. These are elicited through interviews and an iterative expert Delphi study. Hence, unlike many other climate change impact assessments, this innovative study takes into account the potentially significant impact of socio-economic change (including institutional and operational). The results show that summer precipitation and winter ice-related accidents are likely to decrease across most of the country, whereas winter rain-related accidents are projected to increase. However, it is postulated that some of the impacts of climate change will be modified by reflexive behavioural change on the part of the driver and either institutional adaptation or complacency on the part of the road authorities. The paper concludes by framing the study in a range of future scenarios outlining how the socio-economic environment could influence the road transport network and how it is used, modifying the impact of climate change.
Journal Article
Bicycle and Car Share Schemes as Inclusive Modes of Travel? A Socio-Spatial Analysis in Glasgow, UK
Public bicycle and car sharing schemes have proliferated in recent years and are increasingly part of the urban transport landscape. Shared transport options have the potential to support social inclusion by improving accessibility: these initiatives could remove some of the barriers to car ownership or bicycle usage such as upfront costs, maintenance and storage. However, the existing evidence base indicates that, in reality, users are most likely to be white, male and middle class. This paper argues that there is a need to consider the social inclusivity of sharing schemes and to develop appropriate evaluation frameworks accordingly. We therefore open by considering ways in which shared transport schemes might be inclusive or not, using a framework developed from accessibility planning. In the second part of the paper, we use the case study of Glasgow in Scotland to undertake a spatial equity analysis of such schemes. We examine how well they serve different population groups across the city, using the locations of bicycle stations and car club parking spaces in Glasgow, comparing and contrasting bike and car. An apparent failure to deliver benefits across the demographic spectrum raises important questions about the socially inclusive nature of public investment in similar schemes.
Journal Article
Colonialism, development, and the environment : railways and deforestation in British India, 1860-1884
This study explores the confluence of economy and ecology in British India, showing that Britain initiated economic development strategies in India in order to efficiently extract resources from it. It looks specifically at how state railway construction and forest conservation efforts took on a cyclical, almost symbiotic relationship.
eBook
Planning Sustainable Transport
Transport choices must be transformed if we are to cope with sustainability and climate change, but this can only be done if we understand how complex transport systems work. Straightforward choices are never made between one transport mode and another; door-to-door movements of both people and freight use combinations of different modes of transport.
This book offers a cross-disciplinary overview of transport systems and the ways in which they interact with urban and regional planning decisions and environmental issues. It offers a thoughtful critique of existing methodology and policy, raising issues, providing facts, explaining linkages and, particularly, stimulating debate. The book methodically explores the definitions, trends, problems, objectives and policies of transport planning. In particular the author looks at land use as a major determinant of the nature and extent of the demand for transport, concluding that the management of land use has to be a key element of any sustainable transport policy.
Planning Sustainable Transport will be essential reading for today's transport specialists, planners and property developers. It will also be useful to postgraduate students in planning and related disciplines.
eBook