Urban Networks on the Move

In this chapter Serruys shows that transport systems are a structuring element of urban networks. As they are constantly evolving, the spatial make-up of urban networks is highly dynamic. This means that the spatial relations between urban networks (foreland-hinterland-rearland) and the periphery are changing rapidly. By analysing the development of the transport system, it is possible to draw elaborate graphs and matrices at meaningful moments in time. This allows Serruys to calculate and grasp how the ever-changing centrality values of urban centres shapes and reshapes urban networks and the relations between them. In the eighteenth century, the highly urbanised Austrian Netherlands built out the world’s densest road network. Belgium, both rich in urban and transport historiography, is therefore an ideal case-study.