1. Inner areas in Europe from an accessibility point of view
Inspire policy making by territorial evidence
ESPON Seminar
“Territories Acting for Economic Growth:
Using territorial evidence to meet challenges towards 2020”
Inner areas in Europe
from an accessibility point of view
Klaus Spiekermann

2. TRansport ACCessibility at Regional/Local Scale
ESPON TRACC
TRansport ACCessibility at Regional/Local Scale
and Patterns in Europe
Project partner
Spiekermann & Wegener, Urban and Regional Research (S&W), Dortmund, Germany (Lead Partner)
Charles University in Prague, Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Prague, Czech Republic
RRG Spatial Planning and Geoinformation, Oldenburg, Germany
Mcrit, Barcelona, Spain
University of Oulu, Department of Geography, Oulu, Finland
TRT Trasporti e Territorio, Milan, Italy
S. Leszczycki Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation - Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

3. Inner areas
Inner areas are being addressed by policy makers as areas with low access to basic services of general interest. These are often rural and remote areas that need to develop on endogenous potentials such as nature and culture assets.
-> “Inner peripheries”

4. Accessibility Main 'product' of a transport system
Determines the locational advantage of an area relative to all areas
Indicators of accessibility measure the benefits households and firms in an area enjoy from the existence and use of the transport infrastructure relevant for their area.
Two components of accessibility:
Opportunities of interest
Effort to reach opportunities

5. Inner peripheries Regions inbetween (larger) agglomerations
Low accessibility regarding opportunities of interest
Three dimensions of “innerness”:
Global
European
regional

6. Travel time to New York
Intermodal
Minutes

7. accessibility potential travel, rail
European
accessibility potential
travel, rail
ESPON = 100

8. European potential accessibitlity, by rail,
to GDP, freight, unitised (ESPON space = 100)

9. Availability of urban functions (60 min. by road)

10. TRACC
Regional case studies

11. TRACC regional case studies: indicators
access to regional centres
availability of jobs
accessibility potential to population
access to hospitals
availability of higher secondary schools
accessibility potential to medical doctors

12. Poland
Travel time to next regional centre

13. Czech Republic
Travel time to next regional centre

14. Finland
Jobs available by car within 60 minutes travel time

15. Northern Italy
Jobs available by car within 60 minutes travel time
(in thousand jobs)

16. Baltic States
Travel time
to next hospital
by car
(minutes)

17. Western Mediterranean
Travel time
to next hospital
by car
(minutes)

18. Bavaria
Upper secondary schools (gymnasium) within 30 minutes car travel time

19. Bavaria
Upper secondary schools (gymnasium) within 30 minutes public transport travel time

20. Concluding questions
1. How could Europe address inner areas or peripheries in policy terms?
2. Is their development more a national or regional responsibility than a European?
3. Would European policy for inner areas be a way forward and, if so, which EU policies are relevant?

21. Further Information www.espon.eu -> TRACC project
Dr.-Ing. Klaus Spiekermann
Spiekermann & Wegener,
Urban and Regional Research (S&W)
Dortmund, Germany