Time Distance, Spatial Interactions Discontinuity and European Space Global Concentration

The spatial interactions between the areas express the existence of a spatial dependence also called autocorrelation. The modelization of these interactions requires the use of spatial weights matrix. In the literature, the matrix of adjacency and k-nearest neighbors are most usually used. We seek to improve this modelization by building up gravitational spatial weights matrix which integrate relevant elements put forward by spatial theory: the time distance, population and infrastructures. The analysis shows that these matrix seem ready to collect the European space concentration phenomenon and that they modify the extent of the spatial interactions, putting forward the discontinuity of those in space