Resumen de The notion of the node:: disentangling and conceptualizing infrastructure nodes in the Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai

Sophie Leemans, Erik Van Daele

• The Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai is a dispersed territory increasingly confronted with challenges related to its indispensable infrastructure networks. This article establishes a theoretical-conceptual base for the notion of the infrastructure node and states its strategic importance to reimagine dispersed territories. Literature and case study research resulted in four types of nodes: crossings, generators, nexuses, and cluster. This article concludes that there is a distinct difference between nodes in dispersed territories and compact cities and that therefore a shift is needed from form to process design, dealing with complex systems of flows that come together in multi-layered nodes.