On 24 September, University College London (UCL), in partnership with the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) and the Independent Transport Commission, held a one-day seminar, Planning transport for future city regions: do we have the tools we need?, to discuss the recent trends in travel demand across Britain and how plans for a devolved government change the requirements for forecasting and appraisal methods.
John Swanson, Associate at Steer Davies Gleave, was invited to speak at the seminar choosing to focus on the benefits of taking a wider systems approach to forecasting.
In his talk, John outlined the implications of the new transport agenda for modelling, brought about by devolution to city regions and the shift towards designing transport strategies to ‘stimulate and foster economic growth’.
John demonstrated what is meant by a 'systems view' of transport in the economy, showing how changes in transport can have multiple effects that ripple through the city system. He also described how this can be modelled in practical terms, using the West Yorkshire-Plus Transport Fund as an example, which was designed and tested using Steer Davies Gleave’s urban dynamic model.
The slides are available on the CIHT website or directly from John, john.swanson@sdgworld.net.
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