The Next Challenge in Transportation Research: Enhancing the Application of the Mind☆
Recent Developments in Transport Modelling
ISBN: 978-0-08-045119-0, eISBN: 978-1-78-635953-7
Publication date: 1 October 2008
Abstract
The field of transportation research, and the World Conferences on Transport Research Society (WCTRS), has an illustrious history. The challenge today is to look to the future in a deep and thoughtful way, to identify emerging issues and opportunities for practice and for research.
This chapter identifies several critical issues in transportation research. We then explore one issue in depth, the need to increase individual and collaborative effectiveness.
This issue points to the need for a new direction in transportation research. Historically, transportation research has focussed on two major thrusts. The analysis thrust has focussed on predicting the consequences of a given transportation plan, project, or service proposal. Associated “design” research has dealt with algorithmic and heuristic techniques for finding “good” plans or policies. The policy thrust has focussed on the organizational issues and processes around making decisions on and implementing transportation plans, projects, or services. This thrust includes public policy issues and approaches, market structures and regulatory processes, organization design issues, distributional consequences, environmental policy issues, and related areas.
Today, we see the need to add a third major thrust to the field of transportation — cognition and action:
to manage transportation services and enterprises better;
to use analysis more effectively to inform and influence decisions;
to use computer support more effectively in transportation organizations and enterprises.
Research in cognition and action examines how people think and act, and aims to develop aids to thinking and acting that result in significant improvements in peoples' behaviours and performance. Promising research directions draw on cognitive psychology and cognitive science, and especially empirical research on managerial cognition and problem-solving. We introduce the theory of cognitive informatics, describe some applications to transportation management, and discuss relevant software tools.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
The author gratefully acknowledges the collaboration of Mary Beth Watson-Manheim (Fritz), Benjamin Medina, and Dawn Russell in research leading to this chapter.
Thanks are also due to the Strategic Informatics Research Program for research support from: the Infrastructure Technology Institute at Northwestern University; EXE Systems, Wuerttembergische Versicherungsgruppe, The Harper Group and John Robinson; Consolidated Freightways; Yellow Freight; British Airways; Avantos Performance Systems; Intertrans, Inc.; Conrail Corporation; IBM Transportation Industry Marketing and IBM German Software Development Laboratory (Boblingen); Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, U.S. Department of Transportation; Andersen Consulting; Lotus Development Corp., ONEstone GMBH, and KPMG, Netherlands.
The Black Forest Group members and activities have been a major and essential stimulus to the development of these ideas.
Initial application of the pattern concept to logistics has been supported by the Patterson Chair, EXE Systems and KPMG, Netherlands. We are very grateful for the support and collaboration opportunities provided by Pete and Patty Stiles of EXE Systems, and Rein Westra and Jan Entema of KPMG, Netherlands.
The author has been profoundly influenced by Christopher W.J. Alexander and his “Pattern Language” body of work over the past 33 years. The author acknowledges this influence with great gratitude. The approach taken here is somewhat different than Alexander's, however; and he may or may not agree with it.
The author gratefully acknowledges the benefits of the research support of the sponsors and the advice of colleagues, but he alone is responsible for any errors presented here.
Citation
Manheim, M.L. (2008), "The Next Challenge in Transportation Research: Enhancing the Application of the Mind
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited