Applications of Evolutionary Economic Geography

The network perspective also lends itself for aggregation to the macro-level. By aggregating
networks between firms to the locations of these firms, one obtains inter-city and inter-regional
networks. The underlying concept of ‘network cities’ has become very common among
geographers (Pred, 1977; Hohenberg and Lees, 1995; Castells, 1996). The central idea underlying
the concept of network cities holds that connectivity contributes both to urban economic growth
and to urban inequalities. Examples of empirical studies that map urban networks include
networks based on the ties between headquarters and subsidiaries of multinational organisations
(Taylor, 2001; Alderson and Beckfield, 2004), on transportation networks (Matsumoto, 2004) or
IT infrastructure (Moss and Townsend, 2000). In these views, cities can develop a more central
network position by attracting corporate headquarters or functioning as transportation or IT hubs.
The concept of inter-city networks can also be applied to inter-regional networks, as the
contribution by Maggioni and Uberti (forthcoming) shows. Regions acting as central hubs in the
development and diffusion of knowledge will be more central in these networks, while other
regions will stay more peripheral. Network position is thus expected to affect regional growth, as
central hubs will receive more, and more relevant, knowledge spillovers. Using Tinbergen’s
(1962) gravity model from international trade theory, one can also analyse to what extent
geographical distance affects the strength of knowledge flows between any two regions. This
question has also been taken up by Maggioni and Uberti (forthcoming).

As for the study of firm networks, the dynamic analysis of urban and regional networks is still
in its infancy. Understanding the structure of a network at one moment in time requires an
understanding of the evolutionary process that has given rise to such structures. An interesting
research avenue is to analyse the determinants of changes in network structures in a spatial
system. For example, does the accession of Eastern European countries reorganise the hierarchy
in the European city system? And, historically, can we relate the rise and fall of cities to their
changing positions in global knowledge networks around emerging technologies and
infrastructures (Pumain and Moriconi-Ebrard, 1997)?

3. Policy

The contributions in the present volume focus on understanding spatial phenomena from an
evolutionary perspective. General policy implications are often hard to draw, if only, because

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