Transportation Geography as a Branch of Geography

Abstract

As an academic discipline, Geography has had a rather interesting history with overlapping generations of scholars bringing different perspectives to bear on what is significant for research. The contemporary stress is on geography as the study of spatial organization expressed as patterns and processes. This present article chronicles the historical development of Transportation Geography as a sub-discipline in Geography in the second half of the twentieth century when it emanated from Economic Geography. The paper illuminates the contributions of various leading European and American geographers who dedicated their career life towards the development of the sub-discipline during its embryonic stages until its introduction in Sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Ghana in the early 70s. A second overarching objective of this paper is an exposition of various themes that have informed the curriculum of the sub-discipline including transport/land use relationships; relationship between transport and development in Ghana, the rest of the developing world and the developed world. The paper further reflects on making Transportation Geography respond to the challenges of the 21st century.