Samenvatting
Structured around the apparently simple question whether it is good thing to improve transport links between two regions, this paper provides an introduction to the analytical methods of the New Economic Geography, showing that the question is a good deal less straightforward than it might appear. Along the way, we will encounter centripetal and centrifugal forces, cores and peripheries, bifurcations and tomahawks, and even the dreaded Spatial Impossibility Theorem. In short, a bestiary calling on all the powers that Harry Potter (the transport planner) can muster to be successfully confronted! For the covering abstract see ITRD E137145.