Oxford University Press sent to me copies of the First Edition of The Transportation Experience translated into a couple of foreign languages. It’s Big in Bulgaria and Albania. If you want to read it in English, go here.

THE  TRANSPORTATION EXPERIENCE William L. Garrison and David M. Levinson are pleased to announce the publication of their book The Transportation Experience: Second Edition The book is available for order at Oxford University Press (see Flyer for 20% discount),  Amazon, iBooks,  and Barnes and Noble ISBN-10: 0199862710 and ISBN-13: 978-0199862719

Book Description 

The Transportation Experience explores the historical evolution of transportation modes and technologies. The book traces how systems are innovated, planned and adapted, deployed and expanded, and reach maturity, where they may either be maintained in a polished obsolesce often propped up by subsidies, be displaced by competitors, or be reorganized and renewed. An array of examples supports the idea that modern policies are built from past experiences. William Garrison and David Levinson assert that the planning (and control) of nonlinear, unstable processes is today’s central transportation problem, and that this is universal and true of all modes. Modes are similar, in that they all have a triad structure of network, vehicles, and operations; but this framework counters conventional wisdom. Most think of each mode as having a unique history and status, and each is regarded as the private playground of experts and agencies holding unique knowledge, operating in isolated silos. However, this book argues that while modes have an appearance of uniqueness, the same patterns repeat: systems policies, structures, and behaviors are a generic design on varying modal cloth. In the end, the illusion of uniqueness proves to be myopic. While it is true that knowledge has accumulated from past experiences, the heavy hand of these experiences places boundaries on current knowledge; especially on the ways professionals define problems and think about processes. The Transportation Experience provides perspective for the collections of models and techniques that are the essence of transportation science, and also expands the boundaries of current knowledge of the field.

Reviews

Reviews of the first edition of the book appear in:

• ITS Review
• Journal of Regional Science: Volume 46 p. 993 (download)
• Growth and Change: Volume 37, Issue 1, p. 158 (download)
• Journal of the American Planning Association: Autumn 2007; 73, 4, p. 477 (download)

 

Table of Contents

Preface Part One – Wave One: 1790–1851 1. Rivers of Steam 2. Design by Design: The Birth of the Railway 3. The Turnpike Era Part Two – Phase 1 of the Life-Cycle 4. Inventing and Innovating Part Three – Wave Two 1844–1896 5. Maritime Modes 6. Railroads Deployed 7. Good Roads 8. Transit 9. Telegraph Part Four – Phase 2 of the Life-Cycle 10. Magic Bullet Part Five – Wave Three 1890-1950 11. American Shipping 12. Taking Flight 13. Railroads Regulated 14. Bustitution 15. Public Roads 16. Urban Planning: Who Controls the Turf? 17. Telephone Part Six – Phase 3 of the Life-Cycle 18. Aging

Part Seven – Wave Four: 1939-1991 19. Logistics 20. The Jet Age 21. Railroads Rationalized 22. Interstate 23. Recapitalization 24. Lord Kelvin’s Curse Part Eight – Life-Cycle Dynamics 25. Lifecycle 26. Meta-cycles Part Nine – Wave Five: Modern Times 27. Energy and Environment 28. Higher-speed rail 29. Internet 30. Technology: Hard and Soft Part Ten – Beyond the Life-Cycle 31. Policy 32. Speculations Part Eleven – Afterwords: Reflections on Transportation Experiences 33. I-35W 34. Design of a Life 35. Commencement Part Twelve – End Matter Appendix Notes Bibliography