1 Qualitative Survey in Transportation Planning: Cognitive Mapping Approach

Abstract. This paper proposes a method to analyze the problem perceptions of stakeholders and structuring these problems by using their cognitive maps. First, we show the importance of problem identification in transportation planning and review the past research regarding the problem structuring. Next, we formulate the method. The proposed method considers the participant’s perception of the transportation problem. The principal goal of our method is to abstract the potential policy agenda by understanding the problem perception of the stakeholders. Then, we present a case study of the strategic public transportation planning in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. We interviewed the stakeholders with the hypothetical cognitive maps and revised them after the interviews. Then, we structure the problem by identifying the factors and drivers. The case study shows that the proposed method is fairly effective. It also shows that the successful generation of a potential agenda is possible. Further, we compare the stakeholders ’ recognitions by means of an analysis of the problem perceptions of the stakeholders. Additionally, we analyze the interactions among the stakeholders by using a reciprocal expectation matrix. As the method is so general that it can be used for other purposes such as urban planning, educational planning, medical and public health planning, and so on, the further application to the other planning may be expected