The Geography of Transport Systems

Citation

Rodrigue, J.-P. (2024). The Geography of Transport Systems (6th ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The sixth edition runs to 402 pages with about 140 figures and maps, printed in colour for the first time. It has ten chapters and a methods appendix. Chapters 1–9 each contain four (in Chapter 7, three) "Concepts" sections followed by a case study; Chapter 10 has four "Challenges" sections instead. The book grew out of a website begun in 1997, and the author's companion site at transportgeography.org remains freely available for personal and classroom use. It carries an expanded online version of the material, with additional sections, maps, figures and PowerPoint slides; the first edition (2006) contained selected sections of that site.

Chapter 1: Transportation and Geography

Defines transport geography, then covers transportation and space, the historical geography of transportation (from the mechanisation of transport after the Industrial Revolution to global air transport and container shipping, as the companion site summarises it) and transportation and commercial geography. The case study is transportation and its bottlenecks.

Chapter 2: Transportation and the Spatial Structure

The geography of transportation networks, transport and spatial organisation, transport and location, and information technologies and mobility, with a case study on the digitalisation of mobility. The chapter introduces nodes, networks, locations and interactions as the elements of spatial structure at local, regional and global scales.

Chapter 3: Transportation, Economy and Society

Transport and economic development, transportation and society, transport costs, and the provision and demand of transportation services, with a case study on tourism and transport after Covid-19. The companion site stresses both the benefits of access to markets and the negative consequences, such as congestion, accidents and mobility gaps.

Chapter 4: Transport, Energy and Environment

Transport and energy, transportation and the environment, the environmental footprint of transportation, and sustainability and decarbonisation, with a case study on climate change and transport infrastructure.

Chapter 5: Transportation Modes

Land, maritime and air transportation and intermodal transportation, with a case study on high-speed rail. The online version treats road, rail, modal competition and containerisation in separate sections.

Chapter 6: Transportation Terminals

The function of transport terminals, terminals and their hinterlands, port and rail terminals, and airports, with a case study on mega-airport projects.

Chapter 7: Trade, Logistics and Freight Distribution

Globalisation and international trade, freight transportation and value chains, and logistics and freight distribution, with a case study on inland ports and logistics zones. It reflects the author's research on maritime transport, global supply chains, gateways and corridors.

Chapter 8: Urban Transportation

Transportation and urban form, urban land use and transportation, urban mobility and urban transport challenges, with a case study on e-commerce and home deliveries, so urban freight as well as passenger mobility is covered.

Chapter 9: Transport Planning and Policy

The nature of transport policy, planning and governance, safety and security, and disruptions and resilience, with the Covid-19 pandemic as the case study.

Chapter 10: Challenges for Transport Geography

Four forward-looking sections on improving transport infrastructure, governance and management, social and environmental responsibility, and future transportation systems.

Appendix: Methods in Transport Geography

Ten short methods sections: an overview of methods, the definition, properties, measures and indices of graph theory, GIS for transportation, accessibility, network data models, technical and economic performance indicators, the Gini coefficient, spatial interaction and the gravity model, and market area analysis.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: Foundations

• Transport geography: the study of the spatial organisation of the mobility of passengers, freight and information.
• Transport networks: the nodes and links that structure movement and shape spatial organisation.
• Transport costs: the costs of moving people and goods, which shape location and trade.

Chapters 4–6: Environment, Modes and Terminals

• Environmental footprint and decarbonisation: the energy use and emissions of transport, and efforts to reduce them.
• Intermodal transportation: moving goods by more than one mode, notably in containers.
• Hinterland: the area a terminal such as a port serves inland.

Chapters 7–10: Freight, Cities and Policy

• Value chains and logistics: the organisation of production and distribution across places, supported by freight transport.
• Urban form and mobility: the two-way relationship between urban land use and transport systems.
• Resilience: the capacity of transport systems to withstand and recover from disruptions such as pandemics.

Appendix: Methods

• Graph theory measures: indices describing the structure and connectivity of networks.
• Accessibility: how easily a location can be reached.
• Gravity model: estimating flows between places from their size and the distance between them.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A free companion that tracks the book. The website follows the same ten-chapter structure, expands it with extra sections, and offers maps, figures and slides for classroom use. Students can preview or revise any chapter online, and the site is updated continuously.
• Strong on freight and logistics. Three chapters (on modes, terminals and trade, logistics and freight distribution) and an urban case study on e-commerce deliveries reflect the author's background in maritime business and supply chains.
• Current and well illustrated. The sixth edition added material on information technologies, e-commerce, mobility and society, supply chains, security, pandemics, energy and climate change, and over 140 updated figures and maps in colour.
• Methods included. The appendix covers graph theory, accessibility, GIS-T and spatial interaction models in compact form. Reviewing the first edition in the Journal of Transport Geography (2007), Feng Xie and David Levinson described the book as a synthesis of the field's concepts, methods, and conventional and contemporary issues.

Limitations

• Broad rather than deep. Ten chapters of four short sections each over about 400 pages means each topic, such as urban transport or air transport, is introduced rather than developed; specialised courses will need further reading.
• Methods are brief. The appendix gives definitions and indices but not a full course in quantitative transport analysis.
• Print and web differ. The website has more sections than the printed chapters (for example, separate pages for road and rail), so students using both should check which version an assignment refers to.

Where It Fits in the Course

Rodrigue's book is the course's specialised text on transport. Coe, Kelly and Yeung's Economic Geography and MacKinnon and Cumbers's An Introduction to Economic Geography are the general textbooks of the field, covering globalisation, industrial location, regional development and uneven development; read one of them for the broad picture and Rodrigue for the movement of people and goods that links places. Peter Dicken's Global Shift analyses global production networks through industry case studies; Rodrigue's Chapters 5–7 explain the shipping, terminals and logistics that make those networks work, and the two pair well.

Aoyama, Murphy and Hanson's Key Concepts in Economic Geography offers short essays on concepts such as accessibility, industrial location, global value chains and networks, useful for theory alongside Rodrigue's more applied treatment. Combes, Mayer and Thisse's Economic Geography is a graduate text on new economic geography models, in which transport and trade costs are central variables; Rodrigue's discussion of transport costs in Chapter 3 provides the empirical background.

How to Use This Book

The book suits undergraduates in geography, planning, logistics, maritime studies and transport engineering; no prior coursework is required, though an introductory human or economic geography course helps.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapters 1–3 for concepts, then Chapter 5 on modes and Chapter 8 on urban transportation.
• By emphasis: for freight and logistics, Chapters 6 and 7 and the Chapter 8 case study; for environment and policy, Chapters 4 and 9; Chapter 10 as a closing overview.
• Use the case studies as seminar material: each applies the chapter's concepts to one current issue.
• Pair the appendix with practice. Apply the graph-theory measures and accessibility indices to a local road or transit network, and try the gravity model with real flow data.
• Use the companion site for the online sections, slides and maps, especially when a printed section is short.

Keep a log of current transport data, since some figures and examples will date quickly.