TIME-SPACE

CONVERGENCE

What the syllabus says

Explain how a reduction in the
friction of distance results in timespace convergence

What do you think?

Has the world become smaller?
Is it right to use the term global village
(Idea that it is as easy to communicate
with people from the other side of the
world as in the same village)?
List and briefly comment on changes in
communications that have taken place
in the last 20 years that could be used
to answer the two questions above.

We tend to think of distance in terms of travel

times.
Travel times are being reduced because of the
increase in air travel. Also air travel is becoming
more affordable.
For example in the year 2000 Bratislava to
London. 75 by bus 22 hours.
2008 Bratislava to London. 40 by low cost
airline 2.5 hours.

Definitions
Time-space convergence Distance decay Friction of distance Remember - the greater the distance we
travel, the more likely we are to use time as
the measurement of the journey. This means
that travel time is often more relevant than
travel distance

 Time-space convergence
Reduction in the time taken to travel between two places due
to improvements in transportation or communication
technology

Distance decay
The further you are from a place the less likely you are to
travel to it. (Is this always the case?)

Friction of distance

The concept of friction of distance is based on the

notion that distance usually requires some amount of
effort, money, and/or energy to overcome. Because of this
"friction," spatial interactions will tend to take place more
often over shorter distances; quantity of interaction will
decline with distance.

So a reduction in the friction

of distance results in timespace convergence.
And therefore increase the
interactions between places
Explain how and why one network, such as the
Internet, has grown over time. [10 marks]

Time for you to think

Briefly list the consequences of timespace convergence.
Now attempt to group these
consequences into groups.
Think in terms of economic,
sociocultural, environmental, political

The Internet
1.
2.
3.
4.

Watch the history of the internet

Watch the Internet and globalisation
Read 628-631 (list)
Watch the effects of social networks on
globalisation
5. Essay - Explain how and why one network, such
as the Internet, has grown over time. [10 marks]
6. Compare Germany with Bangladesh (ICT)

AND NOW THE REASONS.

Its clear that there has been timespace convergence.
Its also clear that this has had a
number of consequences and
impacts on our daily life
Its also clear that this is one of the
main reasons leading to globalization.
So how has this all taken place in, for
example, Europe?

Cheap oil!

IMPROVEMENTS

POLITICAL CHANGE
European integration
Schengen treaty
Common currency
Disappearance of Warsaw
Pact and Communism

ECONOMIC
IMPROVEMENTS
Increased affluence
Fall in relative cost of transport
and communications

TRANSPORT
IMPROVEMENTS
More airports
Low budget airlines
Motorway network
Fast rail links
Containerisation

Containerisation and relatively low fuel costs have

meant that the transport costs for each unit transported is
very low.
It costs around 1500 to 2500 Euros to transport a TEU
container from Singapore to Rotterdam.

Aviation transports more than 2.2 billion

passengers annually
Aviation carries over 44 million tonnes of
freight annually and 35% of interregional
exports of goods by value
IATA (International Air Transport Association) 2008

We now live in a shrinking

world where space and distance
are irrelevant and places have
become homogeneous?

Geography is irrelevant?

Nonsense!!

Think how different your life would be if you

were born in a village in Niger.
We all still spend most of our lives in local
space.

Nonsense!!

As it becomes easier to transcend space,

an understanding of the differences
between places becomes even more
important.
It is now possible for even small companies
to seek a competitive advantage by
producing and selling their products in
another place. The decision is, which
place?

Nonsense!!
The process of globalisation is not uniform.
Change does not occur everywhere in the
same way and at the same time.
The particular character of individual
countries, regions and even localities interacts
with the larger scale general processes of
change to produce quite specific outcomes. (P
Dicken Global Shift)

Time space convergence is

socially differentiated.
Discuss
(Massey, Globalisation topic Master page 24)