The Hitchhiker's Guide to challenges in transport policy research

Towards ANSWERing questions regarding life, mobility, and everything

Journal Article (2025)
Author(s)

Sebastian Wandelt (Beihang University)

Anming Zhang (University of British Columbia)

Constantinos Antoniou (Technische Universität München)

Lucy Budd (Leicester Castle Business School)

Mercedes Castro-Nuno (University of Seville)

Yida Ding (Tsinghua University)

Jonas Eliasson (Linköping University)

Stefan Goessling (Linnaeus University - Kalmar)

Sylvia Y. He (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Stephen Ison (Leicester Castle Business School)

Changmin Jiang (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

Jasmine Siu Lee Lam (Technical University of Denmark (DTU))

Kevin Li (Zhejiang University - Zhoushan )

Zhiyuan Liu (Southeast University)

Becky P.Y. Loo (The University of Hong Kong)

Xiaolei Ma (Beihang University)

Juan de Dios Ortúzar (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

Oscar Oviedo-Trespalacios (TU Delft - Safety and Security Science)

Donggen Wang (Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University)

Xiaoqian Sun (Beihang University)

Research Group
Safety and Security Science
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2025.104650
More Info
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Publication Year
2025
Language
English
Research Group
Safety and Security Science
Bibliographical Note
Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository as part of the Taverne amendment. More information about this copyright law amendment can be found at https://www.openaccess.nl. Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.
Journal title
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice
Volume number
200
Article number
104650
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Abstract

Transport policy research has been developed systematically since the second half of the 20th century, when urban planning and transportation systems became critical components of economic development and urbanization. The field has evolved through a wealth of diverse publications and scholarly contributions. Our comprehensive guide synthesizes the state of the art in 20 major categories of transport policy research, identified based on a data-driven categorization. Each category is represented by a leading expert in the field, providing a rigorous assessment of the state of the art on an area together with an identification of challenges to inform future research and policymaking. Aggregated analysis reveals six major trends in policy research, namely: Adaptability, Network Integration, Sustainability, Wireless Connectivity, Equity, and Resilience — combined to form the word ANSWER, with each component being crucial to understanding and addressing the field's multifaceted challenges. Our guide aims to provide answers to pressing challenges and serve as an essential, accessible reference regarding transport policy research for academics, policymakers, and industry stakeholders alike.

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