Accessibility and Economic Development in Europe

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the development of transport infrastructure (modernisation of railway tracks and development of the motorway and expressway network) and its possible effects on regional development in Slovakia. Accessible transport infrastructure (mainly the motorway network) has influenced many decisions concerning the location of industrial investments. The impact of transport infrastructure on the reduction of regional disparities in Slovakia is limited mainly due to the concentration of transport infrastructure investment in the more developed regions of Slovakia. Poorer regions in eastern Slovakia and the southern part of Central Slovakia are still affected by the unfavourable level of accessibility to the transport infrastructure that creates important conditions affecting their development.

Efficiency and spatial equity impacts of high-speed rail extensions in urban areas

“…Other considerations apply if HSR impacts are approached solely from the standpoint of regional development (see e.g. ; Kobayashi & Okumura, 1997;Martin, 1997;Martinez & Givoni, 2009;Vickerman & Ulied, 2009;Vickerman et al, 1999).…”

“…These equity considerations, related with concepts such as cohesion, polycentricity and peripherality, are gaining ground in European transport and regional policy documents (Brocker et al, 2010;EC, 1999;Peters, 2003;Vickerman, Spiekermann, & Wegener, 1999). It is therefore increasingly being claimed that the design of a HSR network may need to be modified to ensure that both an acceptable degree of equity is retained, while maximizing economic growth (Brocker et al, 2010;Button, 1993;Lopez & Monzon, 2010).…”

New aspects of European road accessibility

“…6). (Further analyses deal with the actual European trends of accessibility and their connection with regional development (ES-PON 2009;Puga 2002;Spiekermann and Neubauer 2002;Spiekermann and Wegener 2006) In the first group are those regions that are above the average in terms of both accessibility and development. Included in this group are the regions of Southern England, the Benelux, Southern Germany, Northern Italy and Northern France, which are considered to be the economic engines of the European Union.…”

Regional per Capita-Income — The Importance of Region-Specific Production Factors

“…This new perspective focuses on the efficiency by which inputs defined by region-specific production factors are transformed into outputs measured for example as gross regional products. Vickerman et al (1999), for example, indeed find that investments in the Trans-European Networks (TENs) are beneficial for peripheral regions, but as central regions might benefit even more, they clearly doubt that the net cohesion effect of such investments is positive. From this it can be derived that the effects of region-specific factors can vary according to different types of regions.…”