The Concept of Polycentrism in Infrastructure Networks an Application to Airports

Abstract

This paper applies the concept of inter-regional polycentrism, which is commonly used in territorial development and strategic planning, to the airport networks design. Authors aim to demonstrate that airlines would be able to offer more direct connections if airports were to function in an inter-regional polycentric logic instead of in a monocentric logic on a national scale. Inter-regional polycentric logic is related with a multiplicity of strong autonomous poles. Monocentric logic is related with poles without critical mass in a hierarchical structure where one strong pole is dominant. In the specific case of air transport infrastructures, Spanish airports currently function in a monocentric network in relation to the capital (Madrid), and this is why the peripheral Galician airports considered in this study have neither the critical mass nor accessibility to enable them to function as independent/autonomous poles. This means that if the Galician Region would be served by fewer airports, each of them could have a greater critical mass, becoming then a stronger pole. Being stronger poles, Galician airports wouldn’t be so dependent of Madrid and that would allow them to guarantee a greater accessibility. This is what inter- regional polycentrism aims: the co-existence of strong poles with an integrated and balanced development.Using mathematical simulation with current air transport connections, authors attempted to understand what could happen if the undifferentiated airports of the Iberian Peninsula area would have sufficient critical mass to guarantee greater accessibility on an international scale.