Large scale transport and regional and urban impacts

There is a growing interest in the relationship between investment in large scale transport infrastructure and economic development and regeneration both at the urban and regional scale.

Investment at the urban scale, particularly in 'megacities' and conurbations, includes heavy and light rail systems and bus rapid transit as well as road improvements and also relates to relieving traffic congestion and environmental issues. Investment at the regional scale includes high speed trains, fixed link bridges and tunnels, airports and new roads and also relates to intra and inter-national transport networks, the elimination of key bottlenecks and environmental issues.

Transport plays a critical role in facilitating economic competitiveness. High quality infrastructure and transport services improve the performance of the labour market, helps attract inward investment and can improve the quality of life. However there is a long history of inaccurate traffic predictions and cost overruns on large scale transport investments.

Titles and abstracts (no more than 3000 characters) should be submitted to the IGC website at www.igc2012.org before 15 December 2011. Please also send a copy to the Joint Session Convenors: Richard Knowles r.d.knowles@salford.ac.uk and Christian Matthiessen cwm@geo.ku.dk . The IGC website first requires you to create a personal user account without charge before you can submit an Abstract.

*We have asked the IGC to schedule this session on Wednesday 29^th August but the IGC Cologne  2012 Programme timetable is not yet confirmed.

Professor Richard Knowles, Chair IGU Commission on Transport and Geography, University of Salford, UK, r.d.knowles@salford.ac.uk

Professor Christian Matthiessen, Chair of IGU Commission on Urban Geography: Emerging Urban Transformation, Copenhagen University, Denmark, cwm@geo.ku.dk

Port hinterlands and urban logistics

This session brings together two areas of related research in port hinterlands and urban logistics.

Port hinterlands are dynamic. They relate to competition between ports, the use of road, rail and river/canal feeder and distribution networks as well as to the routing decisions of logistics companies, which handle most freight flows, and of the increasingly large and mostly global shipping companies.

The handling of freight collection and distribution in and between urban areas is increasingly dominated by logistics companies. Road transport dominates because of its flexibility and reach and has enabled 'Just in time' distribution to reduce  warehousing and component storage, for example in the car assembly industry. However road freight transport  faces increasing problems of urban traffic congestion, unreliable delivery schedules, carbon and particulate emissions and noise and vibration.

Titles and abstracts (no more than 3000 characters) should be submitted to the IGC website at www.igc2012.org before 15 December 2011. Please also send a copy to the Joint Session Convenors: Yves Boquet yves.boquet@u-bourgogne.fr and Theo Notteboom theo.notteboom@ua.ac.be. The IGC website first requires you to create a personal user account without charge before you can submit an Abstract.

*We have asked the IGC to schedule this session on Wednesday 29^th August but the IGC Cologne  2012 Programme timetable is not yet confirmed.

Professor Yves Boquet, Université de Bourgogne, France, yves.boquet@u-bourgogne.fr 

Professor Richard Knowles, Chair IGU Commission on Transport and Geograph, University of Salford, UK, r.d.knowles@salford.ac.uk

Professor Theo Notteboom , ITMMA – University of Antwerp, Belgium, theo.notteboom@ua.ac.be