The worldwide impacts of COVID-19 on transportation planning and transport operations are covered in an academic journal’s special issue edited by a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty member. The publication’s 35 articles range in topics from the impact of COVID-19 on airline travel, cruise ship operations and freight transport, to an analysis of short-term changes in behavior and operations, and longer term impacts and changes in the transportation industry.
Karl Kim, a professor of urban and regional planning in the College of Social Sciences (CSS), is editor-in-chief of the March 2021 issue of Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Research authors come from the U.S., Asia, Africa, South America and emerging economies.
“The pandemic has resulted in decreased travel by ground, air and water transportation modes. These changes have resulted both from fear of getting sick and from restrictions imposed by government,” said Kim. “This special issue is successful in terms of the many articles submitted by researchers and downloaded by readers throughout the world, and in providing a venue for transportation researchers to quickly share and disseminate new research. We need to continue studying the impacts of the pandemic and responses by government and the transportation industry.”
Kim is executive director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center and director of the CSS graduate program in disaster management and humanitarian assistance. He studies transportation, cities and resilience, and has developed and led research and training programs in Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia.
This research is an example of UH Mānoa’s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.
