edited by Ana Condeço-Melhorado, researcher fellow, European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Spain ; Aura Reggiani, professor, University of Bologna, Italy ; Javier Gutiérrez, professor, University Complutense of Madrid, Spain
'This book clearly illustrates that accessibility and spatial interaction are strongly interrelated. Transport accessibility is a driver of spatial interaction between places. It is a very welcome addition to the field with peer-reviewed chapters written by leading researchers. The contributions show that the accessibility concept has many dimensions and can be used to examine for example complex spatial interactions, location choices, regional spatial structures, border effects and productivity changes.'--Karst Geurs, University of Twente, the Netherlands. 'Interaction and accessibility are widely discussed themes in urban and regional analysis. Many aspects of this area are touched on in this wide-ranging collection of research essays. For example, migration, commuting, and accessibility are emergent issues as urban areas expand. Classic measures of accessibility provide useful metrics for regional description and assessment of urban hierarchies. Despite decades of development of mathematical models relating spatial interaction and accessibility, open questions remain regarding their analytical properties and performance in different empirical applications. This book paves the way for new topics requiring novel approaches using accessibility tools. This book will appeal to readers interested in accessibility studies because of its emphasis on the complex and dynamic interaction between accessibility and the space-economy.' (Morton E. O'Kelly, The Ohio State University, US.) -- The concept of accessibility is linked to the level of opportunities available for spatial interaction (flows of people, goods or information) between a set of locations, through a physical and/or digital transport infrastructure network. Accessibility has proved to be a crucial tool for understanding the framework of sustainability policy in light of best practice planning and decision-making processes. Methods such as cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria analysis and risk analysis can benefit greatly from embedding accessibility results. -- This book presents a cohesive collection of recent studies, modeling and discussing spatial interaction by means of accessibility indicators. Three key areas of information are discussed: (i) methods and data sources used to estimate spatial interaction through accessibility indicators; (ii) spatial and social dimension of accessibility; (iii) accessibility as a driver of spatial interaction.
