Territorial impacts of transport infrastructure and policies promoting sustainable spatial development

Abstract

This article deals with the interaction of transport infrastructure and sustainable spatial development. First, it examines the role of transport infrastructure and the significance of accessibility. Second, it identifies the main objectives of European policies, i.e. parity of access, balanced development, environmental protection and socio-economic cohesion, the effectiveness of which is linked to the changes in the supply and demand of transport infrastructure. Third, it proposes a simplified theoretical model concerning how spatial development patterns interrelate with changes in transport infrastructure. Selected socio-economic, traffic and environmental indicators corresponding to both the steps of the model and the policy objectives are introduced in order to monitor the territorial impacts of transport infrastructure. The approach is tested with empirical examples drawn from a recent study of the multimodal transport corridor that has the Egnatia Motorway as its main backbone and connects North Greece with South Italy and Northwest Turkey. The conclusion underlines the contribution of the approach for the formulation and assessment of alternative policy priorities promoting sustainable spatial development.