From theory to practice: the experience in Venezuela

The purpose of this paper is to present a brief review of the theoretical developments of recent years in the field of integrated land-use and transport modelling, from the point of view of their usefulness in practical applications. The review is limited to the experience of the author and colleagues in Venezuela, although much of the work began at the Martin Centre. It is argued that modelling has had a profound impact in practice, and that the field will continue to grow in the future. To support this view, the paper begins with a discussion of modelling in practice and the way it has evolved. Next, the importance of a unified theory is stressed; this has enabled the development of integrated activity location and transport models which are general and flexible and make an efficient use of information. This is followed by a closer look at activity location and land use, taking the input-output model as a basis. The representation of the transport system is dealt with next, covering the main elements such as trip generation, modal split, and path search and assignment. The paper ends with conclusions and proposals for future work.