TRANSPORTATION AND SOCIETY - WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AFRICA
INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
AND
DEPARTMENT OF CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING

Special Topic Course No: CRP 395 - 71/ CRP 679 - 71 Spring Semester, 2008. Warren 309 Tuesday 2.00-5.00

Professor Margaret Grieco,
Visiting Full Professor,
Institute for African Development,
Cornell University
and
Professor of Transport and Society,
Napier University,
Edinburgh
e-mail at m.grieco@napier.ac.uk

This seminar will examine new developments in the relationship between Transport and Society with special reference to Africa. Transport organisation in Africa has been adversely affected by the dominance of colonial interests: for example, an overfocus on servicing extractive industries such as mining has resulted in imbalanced transport systems. Until very recently, transport planning in Africa was designed within policy frameworks which concentrated primarily on civil engineering schemes without appropriate or adequate reference to social dimensions. In the present, the global movement to roll back government has resulted in a strong policy focus on the decentralisation of services and this has been accompanied by a new and welcome focus on accessibility planning within the International Development Institutions. Accessibility planning is a more people focused approach and encompasses issues such as gender differences in travel needs and service patterns. The first part of the seminar/ course will explore the movement from colonial driven models of transport organisation in Africa to the contemporary local accessibility model of transport and service planning.

The second part of the seminar/ course will explore the range of cultural and social issues which impact upon transport organisation in sub-Saharan Africa. Within this framework, the differing transport cultures present in Africa are explored and their relevance for policy development identified.

Course materials: Many of the selected reading materials are available on line (the URLs are provided on the seminar topic list): materials not available on line will be placed by the instructor in the library on restricted loan.

Instruction format and assessment: Instruction format will be a combination of topic summary and overview by the instructor and class discussions of assigned readings. Assessment will be based on participation in class discussions and a class presentation of an outline of a final paper 20% and a paper on a relevant topic chosen by the student and approved by the instructor will account for 80% of the final grade. The length of the paper should be around 15 pages in double spacing.

Part one: From the dominance of extraction to the drive for social inclusion: a changing approach to transport in Africa.

Part two: A continent of varied transport cultures: social issues and transport in Africa.