ABSTRACT
Transportation history: The intersection of modes, infrastructure and society The history of transportation is a fascinating and vast field spanning millennia from early human evolution to the exploration of space. Its purview includes walking and human evolution, early experience with marine and river travel, the use of animals for transport, the impact of the wheel and early mechanization, roads, the motor age, telecommunications, popular culture and space travel. It sheds light on issues such as the relation of mobility to community, economic development and daily activity. Sustainable transportation has emerged as an important issue in recent decades, although aspects of sustainability are as ancient as mobility itself. This chapter will sketch the outlines of some of the important themes and issues relevant to sustainable transportation (ST) and suggest ways in which planning and policy-making should be informed by them. It will focus principally on land transport and major forms of transportation and infrastructure, but it will also review aspects of the history of maritime-water travel, telecommunications and aviation necessary for an understanding of subsequent chapters.
