This volume aims to provide an overview of new frontiers in theoretical/methodological studies and research applications concerning the space-economy.
It is a focussed selection of ideas and reflections put forward by scientists exploring new insights and channels of research, where the quantitative synthesis of spatial systems is the integrative framework. The conclusion drawn from the book is that the fast-changing socio-economic structures and political landscapes are pushing spatial economic science in various "evolutionary" directions. From this perspective, the valuable heritage of the discipline, built up over fifty years, constitutes the solid methodological basis from which to proceed.

Klappentext

With the dawn of the twenty-first century comes the awareness that current rapid political-economic-social and technological transformations will affect our of living, by producing new forms of information, communications, common way market, work-style and leisure. In this context, human behaviour will certainly change its 'fixed' parameters. It is likely that the relationships between internal structures and external influences, between individual components and collective behaviour, as well as between multi-scale networks and interrelated dynamics, will show spatio-temporal patterns which will be difficult to predict by means of our usual tools. As a consequence, academic research is increasingly being required to play an active role in addressing new ways of understanding and forecasting the sets of interacting structures, ranging from the technical to the organizational, and from the social to the economic and political levels, while at the same time incorporating concerns about the 'new' economy, environment, society, information and technology. It is now evident that social science - especially spatial and economic scienc- needs innovative 'paths', together with continuous cross-fertilization among the many disciplines involved. In order to investigate these intriguing perspectives, we seem to have embarked on an era of methodological reflections - rather than developing strong theoretical foundations. This volume aims to provide an overview of these new insights and frontiers for theoretical/methodological studies and research applications in the space-economy.

Inhalt

Preface.- 1. Aura Reggiani: Introduction: New Frontiers in Modelling Spatial and Economic Systems.- PART I: NEW FRONTIERS IN SPATIAL ECONOMICS AND MODELLING: 2. Alan Wilson: Spatial Modelling: Conceptual, Mathematical and Computational Challenges.- 3. Kenneth Button: Where did the 'New Urban Economics' go after 25 Years.- 4. David Batten: Complex Landscapes of Spatial Interaction.- 5. Guenter Haag: New Frontier Concepts in Spatial and Social Sciences: Towards Nested Theories.- 6. Manfred M. Fischer: Methodological Challenges in Neural Spatial Interaction Modelling: The Issues of Model Selection.- 7. Peter Nijkamp, Piet Rietveld, Laura Spierdijk: Classification Techniques in Quantitative Comparative Research: A Meta-Comparison.- PART II: NEW FRONTIERS IN DECISION MAKING IN A COMPLEX SPACE-ECONOMY: 8. Peter Nijkamp: Advances in Comparative Assessment Research in the Space-Economy.- 9. Yee Leung: A Hybrid Connectionist Expert System for Spatial Inference and Analysis.- 10. Jean-Claude Thill, Aaron Wheeler: Knowledge Discovery and Induction of Decision Trees in Spatial Decision Problems.- 11. Dorien J. DeTombe: A New Method for Handling Complex Spatial Problems.- PART III: NEW FRONTIERS IN SPATIAL AND DYNAMIC ANALYSIS: 12. Kieran P. Donaghy: Generalised Stability Analysis of a Non-linear Dynamic Model.- 13. Gustav Kristensen: Spatial Heterogenity in Danish Urban Land Prices: The Expansion Method Philosophy and Variable Autocorrelated Residuals.- 14. Robert G.V. Baker: What Underpins the Gravity Coefficient in Space-Time Modelling Aggregate Consumer Trip Behaviour to Shopping Centres?.- 15. Russel J. Cooper: An Extension of the Block Spatial Path Approach to Analysis of the Influence of Intra and Interregional Trade on Multipliers Effectsin General Multiregional Input-Output Models.- PART IV: NEW FRONTIERS IN TRANSPORT NETWORKS: 16. Aura Reggiani, Peter Nijkamp, Enrico Sabella: A Comparative Analysis of the Performance of Evolutionary Algorithms and Logit Models in Spatial Networks.- 17. Jean-Claude Thill, Mikhail Mozolin: Feed-Forward Neural Networks for Spatial Interaction: Are they Trustworthy Forecasting Tools?.- 18. Claudio Meneguzzer: Stochastic User Equilibrium Assignment with Traffic-Responsive Signal Control.- 19. Maurizio Bielli, Pasquale Carotenuto, Giuseppe Confessore: A New Hybrid Approach for Transport Network Design.- 20. Laurie A. Schintler, Rajendra Kulkarni: The Emergence of Small-world Phenomenon in Urban Transportation Networks: An Exploratory Analysis.- Figures.- Tables.- Index.- List of Contributors.