UC Irvine Institute of Transportation Studies

Public facility planning is currently viewed in terms of structuring a service delivery system for optimal provision. Because the spatial process of delivery has been neglected, however, the means of improving service utilization have been narrowly construed as locational in nature. Consequently, facility systems have been modeled and evaluated in terms of supply rather than use, and decentralization has been advocated to the exclusion of alternative spatial patterns. An expanded planning framework regards service delivery as a spatial interaction system and identifies location and transportation as complementary spatial strategies which enhance service utilization and widen the choice of facility pattern. Transportation strategies are more flexible, though, since they directly enhance travel behavior and service accessibility. Moreover, given present planning constraints, transportation strategies have a much wider role to play in improving the effectiveness of future public facility planning and spatial policy.