The Study of Sustainable Development of Transportation in Iran Using a Multi-Criteria Analysis

Subject Areas : environmental management

Amir Abbas Rassafi ¹ , Shima Zarabadipour ²

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Received: 2007-05-10 Accepted : 2008-02-12 Published : 2009-06-22

Keywords: Sustainable development, Transportation, multi-criteria analysis,

Abstract :

It is now evident that uncontrolled growth and development will have negative consequences. Sustainable development is indeed a solution to this problem. It is a multi-faceted approach, which extensively involves many aspects of human life. Transportation -- as a vital part of todays life -- that strongly interacts with all other key dimensions of societies appears in many sustainability-related studies. In a viewpoint, sustainable transportation is considered to include three main dimensions, namely economy, environment and social aspects. In this viewpoint, sustainable transportation is achieved by establishing balance and concordance among these dimensions. In this study, the interaction between transportation and the tripartite dimensions is analyzed. Sustainable development is qualitative in nature, and many studies have been conducted to quantify it. However, few studies have been done in this field at a national level. Therefore, this paper attempts to analyze sustainable transportation more quantitatively and at a national level. To this end, relevant indicators for Iran are introduced, and then using a multi-criteria approach -- the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) --, sustainable transportation policies are assessed and ranked