Education and Training of Transportation Engineers and Planners Vis-à-Vis Public Involvement

Abstract

Public involvement in transportation investment decision making is central to accomplishing the vision of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. FHWA and FTA are striving to promote this objective in the face of several problems, some of which stem from the biased education and training of engineers and planners. The predominant emphasis of the majority of planners has been and continues to be on technical issues to the exclusion of communicative action and emancipatory interest, resulting in planners not being able to cope with the demands of participatory democracy. The basic concepts of communicative action that need to be incorporated in the education and training of engineers and planners to equip them to deal effectively with citizen participation are introduced. It is recommended that in the changed context in which transportation engineers and planners will have to operate, it is essential that they gain competency beyond just technical areas and be competent to cope with the social, economic, and political dimensions of planning by gaining an understanding of the rudiments of communicative action. A blend of all three rationalities and interests (technical, communicative, and emancipatory) will have to form part of the day-today vocabulary and knowledge base of future planners in view of the importance of public participation in the transportation planning process. An appropriate graduate course on this topic is outlined.