Journal of Transport Geography 14 (2006) 241–242
www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo
Viewpoint
Is the study of Transport repositioning Transport
Geographers away from Geography?
Timothy M. Vowles
School of Geography & Earth Sciences, Institute of Geography, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
A recent President’s Column in the AAG Newsletter
(Marston, 2005) addressed the necessity for geographers
to expand their interaction with colleagues outside of geo-
graphy and also implied expansion to those outside of the
academy as well. Transport Geographers practice this
multi-disciplinary approach due to the very nature of
their interests. In my specialty area, air transport, trans-
port geographers have conducted and published research
with colleagues in such disciplines as law, economics, pub-
lic health, and management as well as practitioners in the
private sector. Air transport geographers work has
appeared in such subject diverse journals as Journal of
Air Transportation Management, Transport Policy, Journal
of Sound and Vibration, Regional Studies, Journal of Tra-
vel and Tourism Marketing and the Annals of Tourism
Research to name just a few. These are in addition to
publications in the more general geography outlets such
as Annals of the Association of American Geographers,
Geography, the Geographical Journal, and The Profes-
sional Geographer. An examination of cited works by
air transport geographers would show a wide spectrum
of disciplines citing their work appearing in a vast array
of publications.
An examination of the whole of Transport Geography
would assuredly reveal even more diverse partnerships,
publication venues, and cited works. Another measure of
the success of Transport Geography can be seen in the
diversity of other disciplines of publishing in what many
consider the flagship journal of the sub-discipline, The
Journal of Transport Geography. A quick look at articles
published in the journal in 2005, sees authors having
departmental affiliations in areas such as Management,
Economics, Psychology, and Engineering. Transport geo-
graphers are doing an excellent job of making known to
* try, airline, airport, aircraft, and combinations of these
Tel.: +64 4 463 5532.
E-mail address: tim.vowles@vuw.ac.nz
0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2006.02.005
*
those outside of geography their skills and contributions
not only to the larger academic community but also to
other interested parties, ranging from governmental agen-
cies, to private consultancies, to providing expert opinions
in the public arena.
A question arises however, is the focus of transport
geographers turned too far away from their disciplinary
home of geography? This question is not unique to trans-
port geography but is asked by many sub-disciplines within
geography as the greater discipline can be argued to be
becoming more and more fragmented. Part of the possible
perceived drift away from the core geographical home can
be attributed to more specialized outlets allowing research-
ers in not only transport geography but other geography
sub-disciplines to target their research to a more focused
audience allowing more specialized discipline work to be
pursued. From a recent investigation into the history of
air transportation geography (Vowles, 2006) it is evident
that the creation and proliferation of speciality journals
such as this journal and the Journal of Air Transportation
Management have acted as a double-edged sword. On
one hand, they have allowed a more concentrated in-depth
examination of air transport from a geographic perspective
to be conducted and published. On the other hand,
research possibly suitable for broader focused geography
journals is published in the more focused journals possibly
with the belief that a greater number of readers interested
in the work will be able to access it. Since 1990, only 12
of the 137 published works were found in what could be
labeled as ‘‘general’’ all-purpose geography journals (Vow-
les, 2006).
Air transport geographers use their geographic skills to
study a wide variety of different topics within air transport.
Vowles (2006) finds that five different core areas geogra-
phers contributed knowledge to within air transport: indus-
topics. The broad diversity of geographic interest in air
242 T.M. Vowles / Journal of Transport Geography 14 (2006) 241–242
transport has led to diverse research ranging from
Fleming’s (1984) examination of cartographic strategies
employed by airline companies to sell their product to
the effects of airport noise on residential land values
(Feitelson et al., 1996; Espey and Lopez, 2000) to the anal-
ysis of the role of air travel in the spread of disease (Grais
et al., 2003a,b). Each of these three examples would be of
interest to not only geographers but to those in fields such
as marketing, land use planning, real estate, and pathology.
These are just a few examples from one mode of transport
and with out doubt other modes of transport studied by
geographers would yield similar dynamic results.
This separation of geography can be argued, benefits the
discipline as a whole. This is accomplished through the dif-
fusion, and recognized importance of geographic tech-
niques and methods of inquiry into other fields. The very
definition of transport, to transfer or convey from one place
to another, (Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, 2005)
implies a geographic dimension and geographers need to
be at the core of research conducted in this field. It is
through geographers’ contributions in the study and appli-
cation of transport that those outside of geography will
become aware of the skills and contributions geographers
can provide, not only in studying transport but in other
sub-disciplines as well.
This is not to say that transport geographers should
concentrate all of their resources and energies in promoting
their skills and creating networks with those outside of our
geography home. As transport geographers, we must
remember our disciplinary roots and through publishing
regularly in our discipline’s flagship journals, our work will
make those in other geographic sub-disciplines aware of
the importance that transport plays across a large number
of geographic enquires irrespective of the actual focus of
the sub-discipline, just as we have established our value
outside of geography.
References
Espey, M., Lopez, H., 2000. The impact of airport noise and proximity
on residential property values. Growth and Change 31 (3), 341–
352.
Feitelson, E., Hurd, R., Mudge, R., 1996. The impact of airport noise on
willingness to pay for residences. Transportation Research Part D:
Transport and Environment 1 (1), 1–14.
Fleming, D., 1984. Cartographic strategies for airline advertising. Geo-
graphical Review 74 (1), 76–93.
Grais, R., Ellis, J., Glass, G., 2003a. Assessing the impact of airline travel
on the geographic spread of pandemic influenza. European Journal of
Epidemiology 18, 1065–1072.
Grais, R., Ellis, J., Glass, G., 2003b. Forecasting the geographical spread
of smallpox cases by air travel. Epidemiology & Infections 131, 849–
857.
Marston, Richard A., 2005. Geographers interacting with colleagues from
other disciplines. AAG Newsletter 40 (9), 3–4.
Transport. 30 Oct. 2005. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, 30
October, 2005 <http://www.m-w.com//>.
Vowles, Timothy M., 2006. Geographic perspectives of air transportation.
Professional Geographer 58 (1).