Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The spatial economy does—as mentioned above—not only have a rational
structure, but also a systematically organized spatial interaction system (transport,
mobility, trade, telecommunications). The basis for a systemic analysis of spatial
Interactions in relation to centres of human activity and distance friction costs
originates from Newtonian gravity theory (the 'universal law of gravitation'). The
gravity model has served as a conceptual and analytical framework for many
applied flow analyses in the social and spatial sciences, e.g. in the domain of
migration, trade, tourism, and commuting flows. This quantitative modelling
approach has become a mainstream toolkit in regional and urban economics, in
economic geography, and in trade and transport economics. A thorough analysis of
the underlying principles of Newton's gravity concept has revealed that the appli-
cation of this concept to spatial flows of any kind is supported by two principles,
viz. scale (or agglomeration) advantages and distance friction costs (both physical
and social). Consequently, the use of gravitational principles in quantitative inter-
action modelling can be justified on theoretical economic grounds (the so-called
'social physics'), a notion also supported by the 'new economic geography' [see
also Nijkamp (
2013
)].
The popularity of the gravity principle—and related principles such as
entropy—in the spatial sciences has also prompted the recognition and explanation
of a hierarchical structure in the organization of geographical space. This is not only
reflected in the Christaller-L¨sch central place theory, but also in subsequent
statistical regularities and principles, known as the Zipf law and its companion,
the Gibrat law. Both laws have been the subject of intensive quantitative research
on spatial pattern analysis in the past decade and have highlighted the existence of
hierarchical systems in spatial economics and related domains, such as industrial
organization.
A newly emerging question is the impact of cyber space. Clearly, a new trend
which has promoted heated debates on spatial friction issues is the emergence of the
digital world [see for details Cairncross (
1997
)]. The notion of cyber space has led
to many speculative remarks on the future of the spatial economy, such as the 'death
of distance' hypothesis. It turns out, however, that ICT development has generally
not led to a vanishing importance of space; the digital world is not a substitute for
the material world, but reinforces in many cases existing physical and geographical
structures determined by cost frictions. Consequently, agglomeration structures and
physical transport patterns have not shown a clear decline nor a fundamental shift
over the past decades. In conclusion, the gravity approach will most likely continue
to be an important analytical navigation instrument guiding our understanding of
the complex space-economy. This issue has prompted a new strand of fascinating
literature, sometimes called cyber geography, internet geography, or virtual geog-
raphy [see also Batty (
1997
), Gorman and Malecki (
2000
), or Kitchin (
1998
)].
