Home > Projects > Book and CD ROM Reviews

Book Review: Transport Terminals and Modal Interchanges: Planning and Design

Summary

Presenting an excellent choice of case studies, this book is a useful source of information for the practitioner, the educator and the student.

Review

Blow’s book is a welcome contribution to the Planning and Design bookshelf. The intended audience are architects and engineers, but in general any practitioner who is involved in the planning and design of transport terminals and interchanges may find it of potential interest. Featuring case studies from around the globe, the book is relevant not only to readers in the U.K. but to the international reader as well. Although not in the format of a text book, Built Environment lecturers and students may find it a very useful source of information and inspiration, with parts of this book making an excellent supplement to teaching about transport modes and systems. The book provides a wide-range of visual examples and interesting case studies that may be useful in stimulating students and encouraging class discussions and in-depth learning. It makes an excellent addition to the somehow limited and out-of-date literature about interchanges, often carried out in an abstract way.

This book shows many examples of good practice, and is full of up-to-date statistical figures (mostly related to the years 2002/2003). The book is clear, readable, and generously illustrated: more than 200 photos and illustrations (all of them B&W) are featured.

Blow considers the airport to be the focal point of most truly multi-modal passenger terminals (as stated in the introduction to this book). Therefore, most of the book focuses on the planning and design of airport terminals. Featured case studies include terminals (with an emphasis on air/rail interchange) such as Zurich, Schiphol, Heathrow and many others. Also featured are the Lyon Perrache Railway Station, Channel Tunnel Terminal, Rotterdam Central Station and Yokohama Port Terminal, to mention a few.

The book tends to be oriented towards large transport interchanges that handle millions of passengers per year. The more modest modal interchanges (such as town & country bus stops, Park & Ride facilities, etc.) are outside the scope of this book. In the reviewer’s opinion, the planning and design of such interchanges are just as important as the mega terminals and interchanges featured in this book; most journeys involve transfer at such interchanges, and may have much more influence on modal choice, travel behaviour and even on wider aspects of the society.

This book comes at a good time. Following the successful London 2012 Olympic Bid, state of art design and planning of terminals and interchanges will undoubtedly receive much attention. Worldwide air travel, especially in Europe, North America and East Asia, is increasing and now achieving the pre-September 11th levels. The demand for air travel is predicted to increase further in the next decade. UK air travel has increased five-fold over the last 30 years, with half the population now flying at least once a year (DfT, 2004, The Future of Air Transport).

Many studies, such as the DfT white paper above, recognise the need for a balanced approach which recognises the importance of air travel, but which also tackles environmental issues. One may argue that this approach should be relevant to the planning and design of terminals and interchanges.

The main function of terminals and interchanges is to provide a transfer point between modes, but they also function as a space were people spend time doing other activities (eating, shopping) and are a place for social interactions. For these reasons, even non-travellers are attracted to some of these interchanges. This calls for a design of space that will consider behavioural and social aspects. For example, the internal photo of Dusseldorf Terminal (p. 121) could make an excellent case prototype.

Within this context it is somehow disappointing that such issues (society; sustainability) are only briefly mentioned and are mostly outside the scope of this book. The section dedicated to ‘Reclamation of the Interchange: Social, Commercial and Sustainable’ (section 11.5) is only a few sentences long, with no references to any of the case studies presented in this book. However, this is not necessarily a drawback, but rather identifies the need for more relevant literature to reflect other paradigms in planning and design.

A minor irritant of this book is the quality of some of the figures. Some of the images, originally larger and printed in colour, were of poor quality when reproduced (example 4.8, 4.11 4.14). This leads to loss of relevant information, and mainly unreadable text. This could be improved if a second edition of the book were to be produced.

Overall, this is a useful book that brings updated and relevant information to the practitioner. It is an excellent teaching aid and is a recommended purchase for any Built Environment Library.

References

DfT, 2004. The Future of Air Transport - White Paper and the Civil Aviation Bill. Available online: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_aviation/documents/divisionhomepage/029650.hcsp

About the Reviewer

Dr. Erel Avineri received his degrees in Industrial Engineering and Management (B.Sc.) and Transportation Sciences (M.Sc., Ph.D.) from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Erel Avineri has been a project manager and a consultant to more than 50 top leading companies and government agencies in the areas of transport planning and operations management. Currently, he is tutor and module leader in several transport planning modules at the Faculty of the Built Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol.