Indicator: All flows Weighted intensity Index

The weighted intensity index (WII) (total flow = inflow + outflow) helps determine whether a region is generally flow dependent or not. It is a measure of regional autarky / flow dependency. The average value of the index for all of a region’s analysed flows can be treated as that region’s overall flow de-pendency. Regions with high WII values are strongly dependent on interregional flows. On the other hand, those with low values are strongly autarkic and only slightly connected with other regions.
Summarizing the 11 flows is the synthetic indicator. It shows the combined importance of all flows for a region. The more flow-oriented regions are located in the European core, from the London area, through the Benelux countries, West Germany, to Switzerland and Austria. The flows within the Europe-an core are less important in France and Italy, which are less dependent on flows than their neighbors from central Europe. The importance of flows apart from the European core is visible also in Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia, although with Finland it concerns mainly Helsinki (the rest of the country is less involved in flows, except through Erasmus student exchanges). Moreover, as a relatively greater importance of flows is observed in all capitals, we can conclude that there exist two levels of flow pe-ripherality, including also the extreme periphery. At the common periphery level (indicator level 50-100 with a few regions below 50) are regions of Spain, France, Italy, Czechia, and the Baltic countries, where capitals such as Madrid, Paris, Rome, Prague, and Vilnius stand out above the level of 100 (ESPON space average). On the other hand, at the extreme periphery, where most regions have a weighted in-tensity index below 50, are Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece. Capitals are more important for flows also at the extreme periphery, but the level of the index in these capitals does not exceed the average (100) for the ESPON space. It is possible to identify countries where the overall weighted intensity of all flows varies internally in a core-periphery spatial distribution (e.g. United King-dom, Finland, Austria). In most central, eastern, and southern European countries, however, the Europe-an rather than the national dimension seems to be decisive. The weighted intensity of flows decreases as one moves away from the European core (especially Germany). This is clearly observed in Italy, Poland, and Hungary. In Germany itself, an internal polycentric structure is visible. The inner cores are Frankfurt as well as Munich and Berlin. When interpreting the overall picture of weighted intensity, we must beware of the technical factors that disturb it: a) the size of the units (strengthening of flows in Germany, where a larger part of the internal linkages are taken into account); b) the system of political and administrative borders (increasing intensity when they cross compact functional areas, especially in the surroundings or inside the metropolis); c) population density (strengthening of the weighted intensity in sparsely populated northern regions).