The Complexity in the Study of Spatial Networks: an Epistemological Approach

Abstract

Provided that the study of complex networks has reached a crucial measure to be considered by many researchers as a separate discipline, the so-called Network Science (NS), the assessment of this field under the epistemological perspective serves substantial self-definition purposes. This paper takes its inspiration from both the review articles of Barthelemy in Phys Rep, 499, 1–101, 2011, and of Ducruet and Beauguitte in Netw Spatial Econ, 14, 297–316, 2014, and attempts to provide an integrated epistemological consideration for the complex study in the scientific subfield of spatial networks. Within the concept of epistemology, which is the theory examining the ways that knowledge is being achievable, the major research question that is tried to be answered in this paper is “whether there is convergence or divergence in the evolution of the spatial networks’ study, in terms of cognition, methods, and applications”. The further purpose of this paper is to shape an integrated methodological framework for the study of spatial networks, incorporating the existing structural, functional and socioeconomic approaches. The overall consideration aspires to contribute to the comprehension and the standardization of the procedures in the analysis of spatial networks, to promote the interdisciplinary research of complex networks, and to introduce the dialogue about how Complex Network Analysis (CNA) and NS can move methodically from the research field into the academic didactics.