IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/eurpls/v16y2008i2p277-301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Regional Cohesion Effects of Large-scale Transport Infrastructure Investments: An Accessibility Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Elena López
  • Javier Gutiérrez
  • Gabriel Gómez

Abstract

Transport infrastructure is considered one of the main policy instruments to achieve the cohesion goal, although the inclusion of cohesion effects in assessment methodologies is scarce and uneven. Although most cohesion studies are constrained to the analysis of regional disparities in economic indicators, this approach can be broadened to include other regional performance indicators. One of these indicators could be accessibility measures, from the point of view that accessibility, representing a competitive advantage of locations, constitutes a “desirable good” closely related to the welfare of each region. This paper suggests using changes in the spatial distribution of accessibility as a proxy to assess regional cohesion effects of transport infrastructure investments. However, as the conclusions taken depend heavily on the formulation of the accessibility measure, we recommend computing a set of accessibility indicators and analysing their results in a complementary way. The proposed methodology is tested by assessing regional cohesion effects of the large-scale road and rail transport infrastructure investments carried out in Spain in the period 1992--2004. The results obtained show that cohesion has improved for the road mode, while regional disparities have increased for the rail mode. This paper identifies the main factors driving this final cohesion effect and explores the strengths and weaknesses of the different accessibility indicators that were considered. The approach suggested in this paper has the potential to be applied in transport planning processes, and may eventually complement existing strategic assessment methodologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena López & Javier Gutiérrez & Gabriel Gómez, 2008. "Measuring Regional Cohesion Effects of Large-scale Transport Infrastructure Investments: An Accessibility Approach," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 277-301, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:16:y:2008:i:2:p:277-301
    DOI: 10.1080/09654310701814629
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09654310701814629
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09654310701814629?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maria Teresa Borzacchiello & Peter Nijkamp & Eric Koomen, 2010. "Accessibility and Urban Development: A Grid-Based Comparative Statistical Analysis of Dutch Cities," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 37(1), pages 148-169, February.
    2. Letizia Appolloni & Maria Vittoria Corazza & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2019. "The Pleasure of Walking: An Innovative Methodology to Assess Appropriate Walkable Performance in Urban Areas to Support Transport Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-26, June.
    3. Ribeiro, Anabela & Silva, Jorge, 2011. "A Spatial analysis on the relation between accessibility and spatial development for Cross-border regions," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 21, pages 141-156.
    4. Karst T. Geurs & Kevin J. Krizek & Aura Reggiani (ed.), 2012. "Accessibility Analysis and Transport Planning," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14718.
    5. Escobar, D. & Cadena-Gaitan, C. & Garcia, F., 2014. "Accessibility analysis as an urban planning tool: Gas station location," MERIT Working Papers 2014-048, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Anabela Ribeiro & Jorge Silva, 2011. "A spatial econometric analysis of cross-border accessibility and development in Portugal and Spain," ERSA conference papers ersa10p456, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Maria Vittoria Corazza & Nicola Favaretto, 2019. "A Methodology to Evaluate Accessibility to Bus Stops as a Contribution to Improve Sustainability in Urban Mobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, February.
    8. Diego Alexander ESCOBAR & Daniel Ricardo OVIEDO & Carlos Alberto MONCADA, 2018. "Access To Security Services And Crime Patterns. Case Study: Manizales, Colombia," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(1), pages 57-73, February.
    9. Panayotis Christidis & Nicolás Ibanez Rivas1, 2012. "European transport policy: methodology to assess accessibility impacts," Chapters, in: Karst T. Geurs & Kevin J. Krizek & Aura Reggiani (ed.), Accessibility Analysis and Transport Planning, chapter 16, pages 280-294, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Páez, Antonio & Scott, Darren M. & Morency, Catherine, 2012. "Measuring accessibility: positive and normative implementations of various accessibility indicators," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 141-153.
    11. Yu, Nannan & de Roo, Gert & de Jong, Martin & Storm, Servaas, 2016. "Does the expansion of a motorway network lead to economic agglomeration? Evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 218-227.
    12. Páez, Antonio & Anjum, Zoha & Dickson-Anderson, Sarah E. & Schuster-Wallace, Corinne J. & Martín Ramos, Belén & Higgins, Christopher D., 2020. "Comparing distance, time, and metabolic energy cost functions for walking accessibility in infrastructure-poor regions," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:16:y:2008:i:2:p:277-301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CEPS20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.