This course aims to provide the students with an introduction to the nature and history of transportation problems, policy issues and transportation deployment. The goal is to help students understand transportation problems and how they might be solved. The class is organized as lectures and seminars, and active participation is emphasized. Lectures will cover theoretical concepts and information. Students will be asked to participate in class discussions, debates, and other in-class activities. After this course, students will develop a worldview on transportation (not necessarily the same as the instructors), and have an appreciation for the merits and demerits of various points of view on transportation issues.
In this course, students will learn
The fundamentals of how people travel and the theories developed to explain travel behavior.
The linkages between transportation and other aspects of the urban and regional fabric.
The basic transportation models and the approaches to measure accessibility.
The principles of both democratic governance and public management to transportation policy questions.
The history of public transportation and its role in contemporary metropolitan areas
Models for future urban mobility.
The nature of selected specific transportation problems, including energy and environmental impacts, and potential solutions.
Develop and test original hypotheses with original data about transportation systems.