Thesis
Public Transport Infrastructure and Security: Public Values, Reprioritizations, Decisions and Trade-offs (Abstract and citation only)
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.170
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Abstract
The global phenomenon of terrorists undertaking asymmetric and unpredictable attacks on non-combatants means that security at passenger air transport and rail transport infrastructure must continue to be a priority and a key factor in the safety of passengers everywhere. However, current security arrangements differ from place to place and from mode to mode, e.g., from Europe and the Americas to Asia, from commuter, regional, long-distance to high-speed rail, and from domestic to international air travel. Exactly why these differences occur has yet to be fully investigated or explained.
This study privileges the view that security arrangements differ in sophistication and intensity across modes and locations according to the prioritization of the public values inherent in the infrastructure’s operation. Public values research has traditionally centred on public sector administration, management and the governance of public assets; however, a key driver of this project has been the investigation of other areas of society where public values are expected to be realized. By operationalizing public values in the context of passenger transport infrastructure, this research takes a novel approach as it seeks to use public values theory to help to explain why certain functional societal operations exist – in this case, passenger air and rail transport security; why they function and operate as they do; and what future security regimes might look like if the public values inherent in the infrastructure are reprioritized at some point.
Having proposed a theoretical framework based on existing public values research, this project empirically tested this theory with users of transport infrastructure. The public, after all, are the ultimate determinants of what is of value to society. A three-part comprehensive research program using interviews, participant observation and Q-methodology was employed to provide a greater understanding of why security measures relating to passenger transport infrastructure look as they do now, and what these measures might look like in the future. It is posited that security arrangements continually change as a result of the constant reprioritization of operational public values pertaining to passenger transport and its infrastructure. These values, it is argued, are subject to continual reprioritization based on critical incidents; for example, a terrorist attack. A better understanding of the link between public values and transport security may provide important clues as to how we can predict future security needs and give decision makers greater opportunity to ensure that transport infrastructure security does what the public expects of it.
Details
- Title
- Public Transport Infrastructure and Security: Public Values, Reprioritizations, Decisions and Trade-offs (Abstract and citation only)
- Creators
- Christopher H. Bennetts
- Contributors
- Michael Charles (Supervisor) - Southern Cross University
- Awarding Institution
- Southern Cross University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Theses
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University
- Number of pages
- xiv, 344
- Identifiers
- 991012969770302368
- Copyright
- © Rail CRC 2021
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Resource Type
- Thesis