Progress in Human Geography

It must also be confessed, that, wherever we depart from this equality, we rob the poor of more satisfaction than we add to the rich, and that the slight gratification of a frivolous variety, in one individual, frequently costs more than bread to many families, and even provinces (D. Hume, An enquiry concerning the principles of morals).

Transport geography lacks a unique identity. The role of the engineer, economist and even the sociologist is becoming widely accepted in multidisciplinary transport studies but that of the geographer is not self-evident. This identity crisis stems from the widespread borrowing from other disciplines that has characterized transport geography's development. If this dilemma is to be resolved there is a pressing need to specify what the transport geographer's particular contribution could be in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary transport studies. Before attempting to redirect the subdiscipline towards a unique identity the derivative nature of the evolution of transport geography has to be reviewed.

Three types of work characterize the study of city structures, according to my earlier paper on this topic (Johnston, 1977). Two of them (neoclassical-functional description and the behavioural approach) are well-established and work continues to be produced along conventional lines (Herbert and Johnston, 1976a; 1976b); the third (institutional approaches) is relatively novel and is still in a formative stage. The latter is the focus in the present review, and attention is paid both to the nature of research and to the conflict between traditional geographical approaches and the procedures of contemporary urban theorists.