Handling user needs : Methods for knowledge creation in Swedish transport planning
(2012) In European Transport Research Review 4(3). p.115-123- Abstract
Background and aim: Transport planning faces new demands for a dialogue with users. Transport planners no longer just build roads; nowadays they also must listen to users, whose wishes are meant to have an impact on the design and maintenance of the road transport system. Yet how can we know what users really want? This article sets out to analyze the methods with which transport planners gather information about users and their needs; to do so, it uses a case-study of how transport planners at the National Swedish Road Authority handle these questions on a day-to-day basis. Result and discussion: The results show that the planners' practices can be analytically understood as something that produces knowledge, representativity, and the... (More)
Background and aim: Transport planning faces new demands for a dialogue with users. Transport planners no longer just build roads; nowadays they also must listen to users, whose wishes are meant to have an impact on the design and maintenance of the road transport system. Yet how can we know what users really want? This article sets out to analyze the methods with which transport planners gather information about users and their needs; to do so, it uses a case-study of how transport planners at the National Swedish Road Authority handle these questions on a day-to-day basis. Result and discussion: The results show that the planners' practices can be analytically understood as something that produces knowledge, representativity, and the identities and needs of the users. The planners base their analyses of user need largely on personal experience. The descriptive, interpretative, and evaluating elements in their knowledge production tend to be hidden in central policy documents and the workings of operational planning systems. If the goals with respect to user influence are to be attained, transport planning must be pursued with a greater understanding of how it conceives of its users as specific categories with particular needs and identities.
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- author
- Hrelja, Robert LU and Antonson, Hans LU
- publishing date
- 2012-09-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Customer, Explicit method, Implicit method, Knowledge creation, Transport planning, User
- in
- European Transport Research Review
- volume
- 4
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84865786150
- ISSN
- 1867-0717
- DOI
- 10.1007/s12544-012-0076-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- de40b659-0589-4dd3-8894-efb5eb57dfc3
- date added to LUP
- 2018-09-28 17:29:56
- date last changed
- 2022-01-31 05:36:56
@article{de40b659-0589-4dd3-8894-efb5eb57dfc3,
abstract = {{<p>Background and aim: Transport planning faces new demands for a dialogue with users. Transport planners no longer just build roads; nowadays they also must listen to users, whose wishes are meant to have an impact on the design and maintenance of the road transport system. Yet how can we know what users really want? This article sets out to analyze the methods with which transport planners gather information about users and their needs; to do so, it uses a case-study of how transport planners at the National Swedish Road Authority handle these questions on a day-to-day basis. Result and discussion: The results show that the planners' practices can be analytically understood as something that produces knowledge, representativity, and the identities and needs of the users. The planners base their analyses of user need largely on personal experience. The descriptive, interpretative, and evaluating elements in their knowledge production tend to be hidden in central policy documents and the workings of operational planning systems. If the goals with respect to user influence are to be attained, transport planning must be pursued with a greater understanding of how it conceives of its users as specific categories with particular needs and identities.</p>}},
author = {{Hrelja, Robert and Antonson, Hans}},
issn = {{1867-0717}},
keywords = {{Customer; Explicit method; Implicit method; Knowledge creation; Transport planning; User}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{115--123}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{European Transport Research Review}},
title = {{Handling user needs : Methods for knowledge creation in Swedish transport planning}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12544-012-0076-7}},
doi = {{10.1007/s12544-012-0076-7}},
volume = {{4}},
year = {{2012}},
}