Matthias Achen, Juliane Böhmer, Matthias Gather und Peter Pez (Hg.): Handel und Verkehr, Mobilität und Konsum. Mannheim 2008 (Studien zur Mobilitäts- und Verkehrsforschung 19). 186 S.
Commerce and transport are two areas, which have been subjected to a sensational change in dynamics both in the West as well as in the East over the last decades. This process goes back to the fact that material consumption and individual mobility from the sociological perspective shape our modern society, in which financial resources and social preferences are reflected.
The spatial development and the movement of people and freight were always closely connected to each other. This especially applies to commerce, the spatial organisation of which is decisively influenced by the mobility of customers and the efficient transport of goods. Thus, the issue is pursued as to what are the determining factors for the choice of location of retail trade and what significance the transport behaviour of consumers has.
The current volume documents the essential contributions of the joint annual symposium of both working groups "Geographical Trade Research" and "Transport" of the German Association for Geography, 2006 in Erfurt. From the contents point of view, the relation between location network of commerce on the one hand and the transport behaviour of the consumers on the other was in the foreground of the examination.
The individual texts are dedicated to the essential determining factors and effects of the reciprocal influence of commerce and transport, mobility and consumption. Thus, economic aspects are linked with social and ecological consequences: future development trends are highlighted and questioned. Viewed in its entirety, the current volume thus offers an insight into the current research object at the interface of geographical mobility and trade research. The individual contributions reflect on the one hand contrary research approaches and on the other, it gives an overview concerning the current status of research on the interface of geographical trade and mobility research.
Thomas J. Mager