During the seventies and eighties, the industries associated with the transportation of goods and people have been exposed to some profound changes. The quickening pace of technological change - with its growing emphasis on telecommunications, knowledge-handling capacity, and air transportation - is increasing the discrete character of the world economy. Thus the network structure of global development patterns is becoming more important, with metropolitan centres as key nodes and rapid transportation routes as key links. In this evolutionary situation, changes in the preferred mix of...

We all know that networks are fundamental prerequisites for prosperity and production. Transportation and communication are indispensible to society, they are the elements which bind all economic systems together. Without networks and communica tion all social and economic life will be reduced to isolated phenomena. Therefore, transportation can't be assessed in the same way as other services. A smoothly functioning system of communications is also a prerequistite for social and economic integration between separate geographical regions. The modernization of the infrastructure is therefore an...

fifteen countries in Scandinavia, Europe, Asia, Australia, and U.S.A. All of them came to Stockholm primarily because they recognize the growing im portance of networks as complex systems, and their home institutions do not offer any systematic lectures on this topic. The Networks Course was originally initiated jointly by the Summer University of Southern Stockholm Foundation and the County Council of Stockholm, the Swedish Aviation Administration, the Swedish National Road Administration, the Swedish Post, the Swedish State Railways, and Telia AB. They have all served as joint sponsors and...

Minister Ines Uusmann The Swedish Ministry of Transport and Communication The post-industrial society is to a great extent characterized by a tremendous growth in transportation. The freedom to move is a central and fundamental human value. Transportation together with communication are the most important prerequi sites for increasing the level of human interaction and mobility over time and space, giving us the possi bility to seek knowledge, experience and social con tacts. At the same time that mo bility has increased we have also witnessed an associ ated growth in health prob lems. The...