An expert system for sustainable urban and regional transport development

This article sets out an approach to the problem of strategic spatial development through transport network re-organisation. The paper describes an expert system for strategic transport planning and introduces the concept of the Minimal Transport Standard (NITS) that is used in the system. The authors have observed the experience of developed and developing countries and formulated a set of indices on the basis of ecological, economic, social and geopolitical parameters of spatial development. These indices are used to derive MTS that describes the development level of a region. The primary task of the expert system however is to increase the quality of life. Thus, the effectiveness of transport functioning is of second priority and serves to ensure increase and maintenance of the general conditions of living and business activity. The expert system is universal, but it has been mainly used for developing countries and the regions of the Russian Federation.