Introduction

Aims and scope: transport and development It would not be an exaggeration to describe transport as something of a Cinderella within Development Studies, being of fundamental importance yet little appreciated and often regarded within the social sciences as ‘unimaginative’ or ‘technical’. The reasons for this are no doubt numerous but two stand out. First, many people are familiar with the often eccentric obsession with trains, planes, cars or ships on the part of some transport enthusiasts, making it difficult to take the subject of their infatuation seriously. Second, and no less important, is the widely perceived lack of conceptual or explicit critical theoretical content in mainstream Transport Studies. Such concerns are, frankly, often justified.