Methods and Models in Transport and Telecommunications

The volume offers new insights into the modeling and analysis of transportation and telecommunication networks, utilizing perspectives from North America, Europe and other areas of the world. It probes interesting questions that can help us to understand the dynamics of our modern networked society: Do properties found in one network fail to exist in other networks and are there geographic factors that can explain this? Are there social, economic or cultural factors that contribute to differences in network properties and dynamics across regions? Can planning models such as those used for traffic forecasting or freight demand modeling be universally applied to networks situated in different regions, and how should this problem be dealt with when a system spans multiple spatial locations? What are the implications for policy analysis and decision-making? These issues are related to the need for a transatlantic synthesis of current transport methods and their applications. The book attempts to offer a prospectus in this respect, together with the emerging reflections on the desirable future evolution of research.