Directions of contemporary transport research worldwide – part 1
Overview of issues presented at recent World Conference on Transport Research events
WCTR 1998 Antwerp
The World Conference on Transport Research in Antwerp in 1998 was held across eight main thematic areas. After the conference, it was decided to select the best papers and publish them through Pergamon Press as Conference Proceedings. The research areas established within the WCTR framework have undergone minor modifications over 30 years (the detailed structure of topics within individual areas varies depending on the submitted papers). The following thematic structure was formed at the Antwerp conference:
A. Transport modes
B. Transport systems
C. Planning, operations, management and control
D. Transport modelling
E. Evaluation, appraisal, scenarios
F. Economics and spatial/environmental engineering
G. Transport in developing countries
H. Transport policy, deregulation, subsidies, and/or investment.
Table 53 summarizes the number of conference papers in individual thematic areas. Nearly 900 papers were submitted to the conference, with the largest share related to transport modelling. The next significant group of papers consisted of works in the field of planning, operational activities, management, and control in transport. Relatively few studies were presented in the field of transport policy and developing countries.
WCTR 2001 Seoul
The WCTR conference in Seoul in 2001 was originally intended to follow the division of research areas established at previous conferences. However, due to participant submissions, it was decided to supplement the WCTR program with an additional area concerning information networks in transport research (in Seoul in the form of a discussion panel, and in subsequent conferences as a separate area “I”, included in the thematic session program). Nearly 770 papers were submitted to the Seoul conference (the quantitative structure divided into groups of issues is presented in Table 5). As before, in terms of quantity, the greatest emphasis was placed on research related to modelling; a slightly smaller number of papers concerned operational activities and individual transport modes. Transport problems in developing countries were by far the least represented research area at this conference.
WCTR 2004 Istanbul
Approximately 680 papers were submitted to the 10th World Conference on Transport Research in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2004. The structure of research areas had already been permanently enriched with topic “I”, concerning information networks in transport research. It was recognized that the problem of information flow between scientists, between transport policy decision-makers and the scientific sphere, and above all between the industrial sector and scientists, is particularly urgent and requires attention. The quantitative structure of papers in individual research areas is presented in Table 5. In Istanbul, articles concerning planning and operational activities dominated, a large group consisted of model presentations, but significantly more emphasis was also placed on transport policy problems, especially implementation issues. A detailed thematic breakdown of individual research areas is presented alongside.
The article comes from the “Logistyka” magazine 4/2008.