Accessibility Planning: a chimera?

This thesis investigates whether Accessibility Planning is a chimera. Is Accessibility Planning an illusion without reality, or is it a feasible planning Concept? Are accessibility-based planning approaches not already included in Mainstream transport planning practice? The objectives of the study are explored Through literature' reviews' and primary research of planning practitioners and Pedestrians. The literature reviews identify a number of potential barriers to Accessibility Planning through assessing research literature and collecting Information on previously abandoned approaches that were similar in scope to Accessibility Planning. The potential barriers were rephrased into eight research Propositions, divided into two groups, culture and tools. A further literature review And two surveys seek to answer the propositions. A survey of transport planners in British local authorities investigates difficulties in implementing Accessibility Planning and planners' attitudes to it. A second survey uses questionnaires and an Innovative GIS-based analysis to examine pedestrian route choice. The evidence Collected by the new GIS methodology assesses the reliability of 'local' Accessibility indicators based solely on notional distance. This part of the study also Presents new evidence on pedestrian route choice behaviour. Finally, the findings From the two surveys and the literature reviews are brought together and used to Confirm or reject the propositions. The results of the study portray how British. Transport planning culture has changed to take up an accessibility-based planning Approach and where the strengths and weaknesses of Accessibility Planning lie. The Study concluded that Accessibility Planning is not a chimera and that the tools that Have dominated transport planning do not incorporate an accessibility-based Planning approach. It also found that there is a significant problem in specifying Useful accessibility indicators, that this is an obstacle for effective Accessibility Planning, and that Accessibility Planning requires new skills and ways of working.