Chapter 1 Spatial Interaction and Information: The Pillars of European Networks

The 21st century will be the age of global interaction. The intensification of social, economic or information interaction is, however, not taking place randomly but will be based on organized patterns usually following network patterns and developments. Networks are systematically organized horizontal and vertical (multi-layer) interaction architectures that derive their existence from the embodied interaction efficiency in an open and accessible world. This holds for communication, for migration, and for physical transport. Given the strategic position of networks in transportation, we may, for example, argue that physical distances will largely lose their importance, and travelling on a world-wide scale will become a common phenomenon for the ‘global citizen’. There is no natural limit to the mobility of individuals, while the transport of goods, services and information will experience accelerated growth as a result of competition at both global and local levels. The action radius of individuals and firms will be stretched out towards global levels, as a result of both technological progress and changes in lifestyle (see also Frandberg and Vilhelmson 2003). Hence, transportation systems and physical infrastructures will become the pillars for a ne