Geographical and socioeconomic determinants in the topology of spatial networks: Evidence from the interregional road network in greece

Abstract

This paper studies the interrelation between the topology of spatial networks and their geographic and socioeconomic framework, based on empirical data extracted from the interregional road network in Greece (GRN), aiming to interpret how this road network serves and promotes the regional development. The study conceptualizes network topology as the composition of a set of major topological measures extracted from complex network analysis (CNA) and it configures the network’s spatio-socioeconomic framework by a set of geographical, infrastructure, demographic, and productivity attributes, all of which are computed in regional scale. Within this context, the aggregate network topology of GRN is approximated by a system of multivariate linear regression models, with response variables each of the available measures of network topology and with predictors all the available spatio-socioeconomic variables. The analysis shows that the topology of GRN is submitted to intense spatial constraints and that is being configured to facilitate the requirement of industrial development, implying that this infrastructure network has a primary developmental functionality. Overall, this paper promotes interdisciplinary research between regional economics and physics by using the network paradigm and it provides insights about using network topology as a socioeconomic index of real-world applications. © 2020, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services,cademy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania. All rights reserved.