ABSTRACT
There are some defining dimensions of transportation planning that are enduring and that have defined the practice of transportation planning for decades. These are the context of transportation planning as it is done today and as it has changed over time. After discussing these contexts, the chapter enumerates changes that have been underway for several decades, and how these ongoing changes relate to professional education for planners. Taken together, the enduring themes and the evolving transitions suggest the following recommendations for strengthening the education of transportation planners. The university is being characterized by interdisciplinary studies, and transportation is one of the areas of scholarship that lends itself most readily to research and teaching across disciplinary boundaries. Because of the continuing, and growing, complexity of technical analysis in transportation planning, there is a need to incorporate into the education of transportation planners’ new approaches to data analysis, geographic information systems, survey techniques, and modeling methods.
