Workshop Synthesis: Surveys and Data to Support Transport Planning Processes

The topic of the workshop was survey techniques and data required for transport planning processes. Conventional transport planning processes have been criticized for their limited stakeholder engagement and their treatment of forecast traffic as an exogenous input. Emerging transport planning processes place increased importance on stakeholder engagement, on the collaborative production of plans, and on shaping future travel patterns. These emerging practices are generating new data needs, fusing data from multiple sources, and necessitating new transport survey methods. The aim of the workshop was to explore these new data needs, data sources, and survey methods. Workshop presentations were organized around four themes: the survey and data requirements of transport planning processes; the survey methods needed to support the co-design of neighborhoods; engaging stakeholders in planning processes focused on shaping sustainable transport futures; and the accuracy and reliability of new data sources. Workshop discussion focused on: the questions that transport planning practices require answers to; the value in mixing survey methods; additional and supplementary data sources; and bridging the gap between academics and survey practitioners.