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Résumé :
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Since the early 1940's, efforts to model the spatial interaction behavior of human populations have been largely dominated by gravity models. the appeal of these models can be attributed both in the simplicity of their mathematical form and the intuitive nature of their underlying assumptions. but when one attempts to go beyond these simple observations and develop sharper theories of spatial interaction behavior, a host of problems arise. first and foremost, the precise linkages between individual decision behavior are notoriously complex and elusive. morever, even then collective individual behavior, such regularities, are often difficult to quantify, let alone explain. but in spite of these theoretical difficulties, the simplicity and generality of the gravity concept has attracted the interest of researched over a wide range of fields. in view of this growing interest, our primary objective in writting the present book has been develop, a rigourous analytical framework within which the behavioral properties of gravity models can be characterized explicitly, and hence applied in a more meaningful way to a wide range of social phenomena.
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