Claudia Nobis und Barbara Lenz (Hg.): Wirtschaftsverkehr: Alles in Bewegung? Mannheim 2007 (Studien zur Mobilitäts- und Verkehrsforschung 14). 262 S.
The present publication, based on the lectures of the 2005 Annual Symposium of the Working Party on Transport of the German Geographical Society, offers a comprehensive insight into the complete diversity of the different topic areas on economy transportation. In addition to its specific issues, the publication also deals with the basic importance of economy geography within geography, as well the presentation of geography in all disciplines, which can be discussed alongside the subject of economy transportation. The individual contributions of the symposium volume outline, besides urban, regional and supra-regional economy transportation, freight and passenger economy transportation as well as a model, alongside the empirical censuses and analyses.Economy transportation is characterised not only through a particular growth dynamic, but also through its heterogeneity. This not only expresses itself in various modes (freight transportation, passenger economy transportation, as well as passenger transportation), but also in different regional aspects (short and long-distance transport). Above all however, it shows in actual fact that the transport demand in the domain of freight transport must comply with entirely different conditions and requirements, according to mode and volume of goods to be transported.
Basic modifications to the national and global economy systems have in recent years resulted in a continuous increase in the flow of goods and merchandise. This has led to economy transportation both for research and politics and practice becoming a current and pressing issue. The growing necessity to deal intensively with this particular area of transport, already arises in that economy transportation is characterised through a particular economic dynamic (increasing traffic growth particularly in road freight transport) and research and practice in the domain of economy transportation ranks far behind that of passenger transportation.
The fact that the complexity of the topic is extremely broad, is shown by the subjects already mentioned, e.g. the EU-Enlargement to the East, progressive globalisation and internationalisation of production and chains of goods linked with this, as well as the technical revolution of production and distribution operations, which at a local consideration, also lead to a multitude of actors and influences being taken into account. Equally, the diminishing significance of regional configuration criteria from the viewpoints regarding production with a concurrent increase in the importance of accessibility in the national and global location system, poses a
challenge for a geographical perception of the complex of problems concerning economy transportation. Commensurately difficult are the analysis of economy transportation
and the search for solutions for its sustainable structure.
Autor: Thomas J. Mager