Integrated Spatial and Transport Development: A Multilevel Perspective

Abstract

Since the 1980s, numerous policies regarding the development of transport infrastructure have been initiated, mainly by the European Union (EU) member states, under the umbrella of the TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network) infrastructure development policy in order to ensure economic, social and territorial cohesion, as well as improve accessibility across Europe. The first initiative was the PEC (PanEuropean Corridors and Areas), developed during two Ministerial Conferences – in Crete (1994) and in Helsinki (1997), with the aim of connecting the EU-15 with the then neighbouring countries. At the same time, the TINA (Transport Infrastructure Needs Assessment) process started in 1995 focused on strengthening the linkages within the eastern part of Europe (EC, 2011a; Commission of the European Communities, 2005). The second pan-European, i.e. TEN-T initiative was established in 2005 comprising thirty EU priority transnational axes and projects that should support the integration of the networks of the new member states (Commission of the European Communities, 2005). Its last revision from 2011 is, in fact, a further simplification of the TEN-T network, known as the TEN-T Core Network Corridors (EC, 2011b), consisting of eleven axes of European importance (Figure 1, opposite page). Briefly put, TEN-T policy is aimed at: 1) eliminating bottlenecks and building missing links, 2) interconnecting networks, in terms of horizontal cohesion between different national, regional and local networks, and 3) stimulating the development of intermodal (i.e. considering various means of transport through the transport cycle) and interoperable networks, i.e. the networks based on operation and technical integration and forms of coordination that enable the functioning of interconnectivity and intermodality at different spatial levels by the various actors (Dühr, Colomb & Nadin, 2010: 300)......