Research Information System
2023 Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Colorado, United States Of America, 23 - 27 March 2023, pp.1-3
In retrospect of a two-year research project conducted in Istanbul, this paper aims to highlight the lessons learned from a comprehensive and multi-scalar methodological framework developed to measure transport poverty.
Measuring transport poverty is a complex task due to its multidimensional character (Lucas et al., 2016). Beyond the theoretical treatment of the subject, methodological approaches are developed to overcome the challenges of measuring this complex phenomenon. Yet, transport poverty is a highly underexplored problem even in developed countries (ibid., Titheridge et al., 2014; Allen and Farber, 2019). In the Global South, researchers often struggle with the lack of data (Metta, 2020) or concentrate on specific groups (Iqbal et al., 2020). Overall, theoretical contributions are in the majority and measurement is usually defined as roadmaps or undertaken broadly using existing and available data. However, the transport poverty data and analysis are highly context-specific, considering social, temporal and geographical aspects (Lucas et al., 2016). Therefore, the advancement of the field can be achieved by introducing new case studies across the globe.
The reported research project is ambitious in two ways. First, it employs a deductive method to move through spatial scales (macro-micro) and conceptualise the subject. Second, it co-produces transport poverty knowledge through inclusive processes. Although bringing together the outcomes of deductive and inductive approaches creates further challenges, this methodological framework opens possibilities for discovering new dimensions of transport poverty. The paper will be based on a structured assessment of the research methodology by the research team and external experts.