The Geography of the Internet : Cities, Regions and Internet Infrastructure in Europe

252 Pages·2013·3.039 MB·English

by  Tranos, Emmanouil

The Geography of the Internet
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd ii 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
NEW HORIZONS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE
Series Editor: Philip McCann, Professor of Economic Geography, University of
Groningen, The Netherlands and Professor of Economics, University of Waikato,
New Zealand
Regional science analyses important issues surrounding the growth and develop-
ment of urban and regional systems and is emerging as a major social science dis-
cipline. This series provides an invaluable forum for the publication of high quality
scholarly work on urban and regional studies, industrial location economics, trans-
port systems, economic geography and networks.
New Horizons in Regional Science aims to publish the best work by economists,
geographers, urban and regional planners and other researchers from throughout
the world. It is intended to serve a wide readership including academics, students
and policymakers.
Titles in the series include:
International Knowledge and Innovation Networks
Knowledge Creation and Innovation in Medium Technology Clusters
Riccardo Cappellin and Rüdiger Wink
Leadership and Institutions in Regional Endogenous Development
Robert Stimson and Roger R. Stough with Maria Salazar
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development
Local Processes and Global Patterns
Edited by Charlie Karlsson, Börje Johansson and Roger R. Stough
Endogenous Regional Development
Perspectives, Measurement and Empirical Investigation
Edited by Robert Stimson, Roger R. Stough and Peter Nijkamp
Media Clusters
Spatial Agglomeration and Content Capabilities
Edited by Charlie Karlsson and Robert G. Picard
Spatial Scenarios in a Global Perspective
Europe and the Latin Arc Countries
Edited by Roberto Camagni and Roberta Capello
Creative Knowledge Cities
Myths, Visions and Realities
Edited by Marina van Geenhuizen and Peter Nijkamp
Societies in Motion
Innovation, Migration and Regional Transformation
Edited by Amnon Frenkel, Peter Nijkamp and Philip McCann
Innovation, Global Change and Territorial Resilience
Edited by Philip Cooke, Mario Davide Parrilli and José Luis Curbelo
The Regional Economics of Knowledge and Talent
Local Advantage in a Global Context
Edited by Charlie Karlsson, Börje Johansson and Roger R. Stough
Entrepreneurship, Social Capital and Governance
Directions for the Sustainable Development and Competitiveness of Regions
Edited by Charlie Karlsson, Börje Johansson and Roger R. Stough
The Geography of the Internet
Cities, Regions and Internet Infrastructure in Europe
Emmanouil Tranos
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iiii 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
The Geography of the
Internet
Cities, Regions and Internet Infrastructure in
Europe
Emmanouil Tranos
Department of Spatial Economics, VU Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
NEW HORIZONS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE
Edward Elgar
Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iiiiii 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
© Emmanouil Tranos 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior
permission of the publisher.
Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012946686
This book is available electronically in the ElgarOnline.com
Economics Subject Collection, E-ISBN 978 1 78195 337 2
ISBN 978 1 78195 336 5
Typeset by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire
Printed and bound by MPG Books Group, UK
3
0
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iivv 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
Contents
Preface vi
1 Introduction 1
2 The fundamentals of the Internet infrastructure: a
cross- discipline review 8
3 Methodology and research framework 67
4 The network nature of the Internet infrastructure 81
5 Internet backbone and aviation networks: a comparative study 134
6 An explanatory analysis of the (unequal) distribution of the
Internet backbone networks 157
7 Internet infrastructure and regional economic development: a
causality analysis 180
8 Conclusions 195
Notes 203
References 205
Index 227
v
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vv 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
Preface
This book represents a long journey started in 2005 towards understand-
ing the spatiality of the Internet. The first step in the journey was when,
as a masters student at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development
Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University, I was inspired by a lecture given
by Andy Gillespie on Internet geography. Because of my prior research
experience in transport infrastructure and regional development, I was
amazed by the idea that the Internet could be approached as a physical
spatial system. But most importantly, I was fascinated by the complex rela-
tionship between this technical system and geographical space. Studying
the limited, but still exciting relevant literature, not only did I start gaining
a better understanding of this “black box”, aka the Internet, and its rela-
tionship with space, but most importantly, I discovered research gaps,
especially in the quantification of the spatiality of the Internet, most of
which are discussed in this book. Andy provided guidance on this research
and I am grateful for his support and inspiration.
The next big milestone was my collaboration with Peter Nijkamp, to
whom I am also grateful. Over the last two years, 2011–12, I have had the
privilege of working with him at the Department of Spatial Economics
at VU Amsterdam. Working with Peter has been a great opportunity to
advance and further expand – both in depth and in scope – my research
in digital geographies. Most importantly, this collaboration enabled me
to channel my research towards the wider area of spatial economics and
regional science.
In total, the present book provides a solid overview of my work in
understanding and modeling the spatiality of the Internet infrastructure
in Europe. Various papers have been published in peer- reviewed journals
and some of them provide the basis of the empirical analysis of this book.
More specifically, the analysis of Chapter 5 is based on the paper published
in Environment and Planning A, 43 (2), pp. 378–92 (Pion Ltd, London,
www.envplan.com) entitled “The topology and the emerging urban geo-
graphies of the Internet backbone and aviation networks in Europe: a
comparative study” (Tranos 2011). In addition, Chapter 7 is based on a
paper published in Spatial Economic Analysis, 7 (3) 319–37 (www.tandfon-
line.com) under the title “The causal effect of the Internet infrastructure
vi
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vvii 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
Preface vii
on the economic development of the European city- regions” (Tranos
2012).
Apart from the influence and the support of Andy Gillespie and Peter
Nijkamp, there are more people I would like to acknowledge: Vassilis
Tselios and Seraphim Alvanides for guiding my early quantitative journey;
ERSA- PREPARE summer school organizers and participants for their
constructive comments and tacit knowledge; Thomas de Graaff for his
suggestions on the comparison of the Internet backbone with the aviation
network; Trey Hood III for providing the STATA code for the Granger
causality tests; and also the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.
Of course, responsibilities for errors and omissions are my own. Also, I
would like to acknowledge the funders, which financed my research over
time: the Greek Scholarship Foundation, Newcastle University and the
Complexity- NET Project Complexity in Spatial Dynamics (COSMIC).
Finally, I want to acknowledge my family and especially my partner Drew
Gertner for her love and support throughout this journey.
Emmanouil Tranos
Amsterdam, June 2012
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vviiii 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd vviiiiii 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
To the memory of my father,
who taught me to enquire
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd iixx 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144
MM33005511 -- TTRRAANNOOSS 997788778811995533336655 PPRRIINNTT..iinndddd xx 2222//0011//22001133 1133::1144