ABSTRACT
Both traditional and innovative means of transporting people, goods, and information profoundly influence our social and natural environments. New technologies have been introduced to overcome resource constraints and inadequate capacity to match human expectations for transport, utility, and information services and the actual delivery of those services. Unless viewed in a systems or holistic framework that considers a full spectrum of actions and their effects, however, introducing new technologies can have unanticipated consequences, impairing the very quality of life the technologies were designed to enhance. Such claims of comprehensiveness and consistency are common and few dispute them, yet adopting such a framework requires a commitment and rigor that is rarely programmed into infrastructure decisions.
