Economic activity, transport, infrastructure and regional imbalances
Domain 7 links production to networks: what the region produces, how it moves, and why the map of prosperity is uneven.
Economic structure
- Employment shares: services about 65 %, industry about 20 %, construction about 7 %, agriculture about 4 %; GDP per capita close to the Spanish average but below the EU-27 average.
- Strengths: automotive and components, agri-food, logistics, renewable energy and heritage/nature tourism.
- Weaknesses: low R&D intensity, small average firm size, dependence on decisions taken outside the region and an ageing workforce.
Transport and infrastructure
- Road, radially organised on Madrid: A-1 (Madrid–Burgos–Miranda–Irún), A-6 (Madrid–León–A Coruña), A-62 (Burgos–Valladolid–Salamanca–Portugal), A-66 (Ruta de la Plata), A-11 (Duero corridor) and A-67 (Cantabria–Meseta).
- Rail: Madrid–Segovia–Valladolid AVE (2007), Valladolid–Palencia–León, Olmedo–Zamora–Galicia and Valladolid–Burgos–Vitoria; conventional lines still serve Zamora, Soria and Ávila.
- Air: Valladolid (Villanubla), León, Burgos and Salamanca, all with low traffic.
- Logistics: Miranda de Ebro, Villadangos and Aranda de Duero.
Imbalances
- Within the region: the Valladolid–Burgos–Palencia axis against peripheral Soria, Zamora and rural Ávila and Segovia.
- Between regions: the Madrid-centred radial system versus the Ebro axis; cohesion policy (FEDER, FSE+) and the Just Transition Fund as correctives.
Worked example
A freight modal split reads road 89 %, rail 8 %, other 3 %. Interpretation: a road-dominated, radial system consistent with short distances and dispersed agro-industrial cargo; rail's share is limited because the network remains passenger-oriented and Iberian gauge still fragments some routes. The proposed correction is the Atlantic rail corridor, which is a rail axis - not the A-62 road.
Traps
- Confusing the Atlantic Corridor (rail) with the A-62 (road).
- Assuming the AVE reaches every provincial capital.
- Mixing GDP with gross value added.
- Reducing imbalance to income, when demography and services matter equally.
- Forgetting the historical origin of the Madrid-centred radial network.