ABSTRACT
Modernity is considered to be a period of ‘time-space compression’, in which the development of new transportation and communication technologies radically reduced distances. In this chapter we concentrate on the construction of railroads and motorways, automobiles, air transportation and communication media. The development of communication and transportation technologies lagged behind Western Europe, and after 1945, it took a different course (a preference of public transport over individual transport, the limiting of communication technologies due to censorship, a higher level of standardization, etc.). With regard to the post-communist period, this chapter asks if the development of transportation and communication has returned to a ‘Western’ pattern or whether it has taken on a distinct form corresponding with the region’s current position in the world economy or its state-socialist past. The chapter also aims to assess the overall impact of accession to the EU in overcoming traditional impasses in infrastructure in different countries in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
