The Absolute Need for Creativity in Transport Planning

Abstract

The transport planning process has often been characterised as consisting of a series of logical stages which lead towards the production of a final outcome. These stages include the identification of goals, the specification of alternatives, the collection of information, the modelling of alternative courses of action, the evaluation of alternatives, the selection of preferred alternatives, the implementation of these preferred alternatives and the monitoring of their consequences. While much attention has been paid to many of these processes, relatively little attention has focussed on the creative specification of alternatives.This paper seeks to show that there is an absolute need for creativity in the selection of alternative courses of action in transport planning. Drawing upon the techniques of creative thinking developed by Edward de Bono, the paper will show why creativity is needed and how all transport planners can improve their skills in Lateral Thinking. The paper will outline some fundamental ideas, and some myths, about creativity and describe three major techniques in creative thinking, namely the concept fan, random inputs, and the use of provocation. It will describe why and how these techniques work, and will then demonstrate their use in a range of transport planning applications.