INRETS - DEST - Overview

DISCIPLINES. The Department of Economics and Sociology of Transports conducts research programs applying many social sciences: from Economics to Political Sciences and including Sociology, Geography, Demography, Econometrics and Statistics.

DOMAINS. These programs pertain to short or long distance passenger and freight transport, generally with a stronger emphasis on demand than on supply, and address planning, mobility and safety, mode choice and land use, as well as governance issues.

TEAMS. Principal research teams have significant teaching and training activities, notably of Ph.D. candidates in engineering and the social sciences. These are welcomed within teams principally focused as follows:

Economics of Space and Mobility of Passengers and Freight;

Risk and Uncertainty Modelling in Transport;

Public Debate Analysis and Public Policy Evaluation;

Public Action for Road Safety.

TOPICS. These teams attempt to answer varied questions concerning both the short and the long term, in particular about infrastructure, traffic, or long-run structural change. A more detailed cross-section of topics includes:

Continuous Surveying : Cross-sectional or Panel Surveys, new technologies (e.g. GPS);

social dynamics: equity and public participation issues;

economic dynamics: decoupling transports from economic growth; infrastructure pricing and cost recovery;

spatial dynamics: urban sprawl; the geographic structure of trade;

demographic dynamics: age-cohort modelling; migrations;

behavioural dynamics: preferences, opinions;

governance dynamics: transport decision making at different levels.