Transport planning is, or at least should be, an exercise in decision-making. While the ultimate decision-makers are elected politicians, decisions are made on the basis of information supplied by professional transport planners. This paper is about the extent to which such information enables a genuine choice to be made between alternative courses of action. The idea of planning as a choice between alternative options or policies can be traced to the 'systems approach' to transport and land-use planning developed in the 1960s, but was reinforced in the 1970s with the introduction of environmental impact assessment. This paper considers the extent to which evaluation of alternatives forms part of the practice of transport planning in Australia, by considering recent major projects in Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E210413.
Samenvatting