Abstract
The impact of introducing motorized transportation has been so big that explanations have to found in space-economy. The part of that discipline called location theory provides good answers by stressing the radical consequences of moving from animal transportation, which involves increasing marginal transportation costs, to relay transportation involving constant marginal transportation costs and to motorized transportation involving decreasing marginal transportation costs. It can be proven that animal transportation favors the dispersal of economic activities, while motorized transportation makes polarization almost inevitable. However, a theoretical question remains: In order to get polarization, there must exist a minimal level of space-friction; however, history has shown that the more transportation costs decreased and space-friction was overcome, the more the magnitude of the attractive forces decreased, and the more they decreased, the more polarization and urbanization triumphed, which is a true paradox. Seven explanations of that important paradox are hereby presented.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
Tellier and Polanski (1989).
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Wilhelm Launhardt, op. cit.
- 6.
Kei-Mu Yi has stressed the fact that the decrease of space-friction generally favors vertical specialization, each sector giving birth to a large number of interrelated specialized firms that exchange with other specialized firms. In the end, the decrease in space-friction is counterbalanced by a significant increase in transportation, and space-friction still matters instead of becoming irrelevant. See Yi (2003).
- 7.
Hohenberg and Lees (1985, 200–205).
- 8.
Johnston (1980, 111).
- 9.
Some explanations of the basic paradox of space-economy linked to the spatial competition are provided by the general equilibrium models of the New Economic Geography (NEG) assuming the existence of increasing returns. See Combes et al. (2006).
- 10.
Braudel (1974, 400).
- 11.
The tunnel effect is also observed in the computer society. The development of worldwide meta-networks often leaves aside whole marginal areas. See Castels (1996).
- 12.
- 13.
Petri (1993).
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Tellier, LN. (2019). Understanding the Impact of Motorized Transportation. In: Urban World History. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24842-0_11
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