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Geography 325
Course Abstract
Through the long history of humanity, transportation and geography have
been intricately intertwined. Transportation has played a decisive role
in the emergence of great cities (including places as different as Venice,
Singapore, and Chicago), flows of migrants and refugees (from the Mayflower
Pilgrims to the airborne Hmong migration to the Fox Cities), and the spatial
organization of industries as old as iron smelting and as new as semiconductor
manufacturing. Yet, while the importance of transportation is ancient,
its impact upon geography today is in some ways unprecedented. Today,
the scale of transportation in many contexts, particularly in business,
is global. And the new modes of the 20th century, the automobile and the
airplane, have transformed myriad aspects of human geography.
In this class, we will study transportation from a variety of perspectives,
with a particular focus on the relationship between transportation and
industry. We will begin with a review of the history of transportation
and the contemporary organization of transportation. We will then turn
to a detailed study of methodologies used to analyze transportation networks
and transportation flows. In this section of the course, you will learn
techniques that have important applications in both the private and public
sector. In the third major section of the course, we will discuss transportation
problems and policy. We will examine the impact of transportation upon
the environment and the ways in which transportation influences economic
development, both at the local and national scales. We will look at problems
like urban congestion and the strictures placed on those without ready
access to a car (e.g. the poor, the aged, the young) in the Automobile
Age.
Required Text
William R. Black (2003) Transportation: A Geographical Analysis. New York: The Guilford Press.
Grading:
Exam #1: 80 points
Exam #2: 80 points
Exam #3: 80 points
Reading Quizzes: 50 points
Research Project: 110 points
Exercises: 75 points
Field Trip: 25 points
Exams & Quizzes
There will be three exams. The second and third exams are not
cumulative. Each exam will contain a mixture of true/false, multiple choice,
problem-solving, and short answer questions.
There will be several quizzes based on the reading assignments.
Research Project
You will do one major written project. You may choose any aspect of transportation
geography to investigate. Among the themes you might examine: how transportation
shaped the importance of a place (e.g. Chicago as a railroad and then
air transportation hub), the relationship between transportation and an
industry (e.g. supply chain management in the global computer industry),
the geography of a transportation-related problem (e.g. the automobile
and suburban sprawl), or the changing nature of transportation (e.g. the
geography of the rapidly growing express air cargo). These are just a
few possibilities. You will choose the topic (of course, I will be happy
to help you do so) and will complete the project in three parts: a topic
statement due early in the semester, a first draft due midway through
the semester, and then the final draft at the end of the semester. Further
guidelines will be distributed in the second week of the course.
Exercises
To give you practice employing some of the techniques you will learn in
this course and to complement your readings, you will do several short
exercises. The exercises will typically require analyzing data and drawing
conclusions. Each will be due one week after it is distributed.
Field Trip
During the semester, there will be a mandatory field trip with stops at
a major paper manufacturing plant to learn about its use of transportation,
the Fox River locks, the port of Green Bay, and the National Railroad
Museum. Further details will be provided early in the semester. The field
trip will take most of a full day, and I will assist student in in securing
excused absences from other classes and/or other responsibilities.
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