The effects of proximity to infrastructure on employment development: Preliminary evidence from the Netherlands

Transport infrastructure plays a fundamental part in the development of cities and regions. Important transport routes generate substantial development pressure. In the past, city centres had the strongest effect on the location of activities but more recently there is the view that accessibility to the motorway system is more important for some employment location decisions. Various types of employment sectors can now be found in clusters, often close to transport infrastructure, despite technological developments that theoretically make proximity less important (see for example Forkenbrock and Foster, 1996; Krugman, 1991; Quigley, 1998; Scott, 1998).