ABSTRACT
Transportation has a strong influence on the spatial structure at the local, regional and global levels. An historical perspective on the evolution of transport systems underlines the impacts of technological innovations and how improvements in transportation were interdependent with economic, social and spatial changes. The current transport systems are thus the outcome of a long evolution marked by periods of rapid changes where new transport technologies were adopted. Following the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, transportation systems were mechanized with the development of steam engine technology, which permitted the setting of networks servicing regions. This process was further expanded in the twentieth century with the setting of global air transport, container shipping and telecommunication networks. The impacts of transport on the spatial structure became multiscalar. Transportation systems are composed of a complex set of relationships between the demand, the locations they service and the networks that support movements. Such conditions are closely related to the development of transportation networks, both in capacity and in spatial extent. Future transportation systems will likely be shaped by the same forces as in the past but it remains to be seen which technologies will prevail and what will be their impacts on the structure.
