The implications of differential network flexibility for spatial structures

Transportation and telecommunications networks have profound effects on location decisions of households, firms and of public facilities. Increasingly, such decisions depend on more than one network. Yet, most analyses focus on the land use implications of single networks. This paper suggests that in a multi-network setting network flexibility is a significant factor in determining the relative importance of a network for the organization of space. To this end, the paper defines node and link flexibility and demonstrates the implications that differences in network flexibility have on location decisions. Counter to some expectations, the spatial effects of the most flexible network, namely telecommunications, may not be substantive, as location decisions seem to be most constrained by the least flexible networks. In response to growing congestion on existing networks, high capacity upper tier networks are increasingly developed. Such networks are generally inflexible. As a result the emerging map is more differentiated than the current one, changing the trend of that prevailed during the last fifty years toward greater equalization of space.