Chapter 8: Planning for Disruptive Transport Technologies: How Prepared Are Australian Transport Agencies?

In Australia, corporations are playing an increasing role in the shaping of urban regions through their ability to mobilize capital to support large infrastructure projects and to usurp institutional planning roles which have traditionally been the responsibility of public-sector agencies. The chapter outlines emerging evidence of changes in the roles of corporations in generating ideas and mobilizing political support for their favoured city-shaping projects, and shows that the private sector is embedded in the processes of government, such as planning, in increasingly complex ways. Through ‘market-led’ or ‘unsolicited’ proposal evaluation frameworks, corporations can now bring proposals to political leaders in ways which go outside traditional planning processes and bypass conventional engagement with civil society.

In this context, we present data from a recent survey of planners in state and national land-use and transport agencies. The survey, conducted through semi-structured interviews, gathered information about the expectations of these organizations in relation to the nature and timing of the deployment of new AV technologies; about the potential implications for achieving environmental and social planning objectives; and about the collective infrastructure investments that AV technologies may require. This work is being used to shape a new research agenda to explore the planning and regulatory frameworks that are needed to ensure that the AV technologies can be deployed in ways that maximize the public good.