ABSTRACT
The intention of this book is to build a theoretical and empirical basis for understanding the relationship between transportation networks and cities in the present day. It seeks to explain this relationship in terms of two overarching themes: agglomeration and disintegration, while simultaneously drawing attention to the often overlooked role of transportation systems as indicative of larger processes of change within economic systems. In this chapter we reflect on the lengthy history of theoretical frameworks that have linked material flows of goods to key processes around cities, primarily under the rubric of location theory. We find that at each stage the central tenets of location theory reflected elements of the dominant economic structure as well as recent technological advances. To put the evolution of location theory in context, we draw on two other classic theories of change: Colin Clark’s model of the shift in production from agricultural goods to services over time and Don Janelle’s model of the link between technology and connectivity. Each of these frameworks provides an axis on which we can map change over time. Having defined our axes thus, we then trace the history of location theory from Von Thünen to the present day linking each successive theory with its specific characteristic economic and technologic period. This theoretical path culminates with the contributions of geographical economics in the present day: a set of formal models and research agendas that explicitly link cities and economic development through the flow of material goods driven by competing pressures of agglomeration and disintegration. The exercise of tracing the evolution of location theory contributes by pointing out ways in which classical location theory is still relevant and by linking the themes driving this book with a vital and burgeoning literature. In offering our suggestions, however, we are cognizant of the broader issues of equity and complexity, so important to many of the empirical chapters presented here, but always challenging to address within the abstract frame of reference in which location theory has traditionally operated.
