Progress of research on transportation geography in China

Abstract

As an important branch of human geography, transportation geography has experienced three periods of evolution: foundation, systematization, and rapid development of the discipline. It has gradually become a relatively mature discipline. During the period 1930–1980, the development of transportation geography consisted mainly of the publication of theoretical texts. During 1980–2000, it gradually became a systematic discipline. Since the start of the 21st century, transportation geography has focused mainly on exploring the impacts of transportation on socio-economic development. Currently, studies on transportation geography have led to significant developments in a number of areas, including transportation theory, facility distribution and planning, transportation flows and network analysis, evaluation of transport modes, transportation planning, and simulation and assessment of urban transportation. Such studies have also enriched human geography research, provided a wider geographical overview and elucidated the development mechanism of transportation, as well as helped to understand the impacts of transport development on socio-economic systems. Some findings obtained by geographers have been widely used in transportation geography and related fields, including the four basic laws of transportation generation, the hub–spoke mode of transport organization, the subordinating and guiding functions of transportation on socio-economic development, regional transport dominance measures, accessibility measures, and spatial organization of port systems.