Transport network infrastructure in the context of population changes in five EU states (1960–2020)

Changes in accessibility that took place in Western Europe, and then also in Central and Eastern Europe, in recent decades were associated, on the one hand, with the processes of intensively expanding transport infrastructure networks, and, on the other hand, with demographic changes. Transport policy in some countries was based on a strategy of sustainable growth, where the development of infrastructure, both at the national and regional level, progressed in parallel with changes in the settlement structure. However, in other countries or regions it acted reactively, following the processes of population growth and concentration, or proactively, i.e. anticipating these changes. Both reactive and proactive policies are unsustainable, either in the national or in the regional sense. However, it is crucial to look at the aspect of unsustainable increase in accessibility in terms of the sequence of events, stages and policy prioritization decade by decade. The model of potential accessibility used for several countries at the same time allows to notice certain regularities related to the mutual impact of transport and spatial policy. The aim of the paper is to indicate effects of spatial and transport policies in the context of population changes, infrastructural changes and, in general, changes in potential accessibility, decade by decade (1961–2021) from the point of view of spatial policy objectives for five European countries.