Tuesday 10 December 2013

Spatial interaction

Spatial interaction is the flow of products, people, services, or information among places, in response to localized supply and demand.

Spatial interactions usually include a variety of movements such as:

  • travel, 
  • migration, 
  • transmission of information, 
  • journeys to work or shopping, 
  • retailing activities, or 
  • freight distribution.




The basis of spatial interaction is based on three phenomena

  • complementarity (a deficit of a good or product in one place and a surplus in another), 
  • transferability (possibility of transport of the good or product at a cost that the market will bear), and 
  • lack of intervening opportunities (where a similar good or product that is not available at a closer distance).