Place quality in high-speed rail station areas: Concept definition

Abstract

High-speed railway (HSR) station areas are expected to benefit urban environments, not simply as transportation or economic hubs but also as urban places contributing to living quality. However, the relationship between HSR and place quality has not received systematic attention, despite the evolution of urban planning paradigms toward a clearer focus on quality of life. We have reviewed 44 academic articles written between 1996 and 2019 and analyzed concepts of place quality spanning the disciplines of urban design, urban planning, and urban economics. We identified three dimensions commonly associated with quality of place: a spatial dimension associated with aesthetic qualities of urban spaces; a socio-cultural dimension associated with experienced “sense of place”; and an economic dimension associated with the agglomeration of economic activities. Then we worked out these three dimensions in the context of HSR station areas and attributed features accordingly. We concluded that the economic dimension far outweighs the others in academic debates, with dominant theories being primarily concerned with land use, accessibility, and economic performance. Studies from the urban design field have tackled the spatial elements of place quality and showed a strong correlation with economic dimension. However, the literature remains insufficiently developed when it comes to addressing user experience and “sense of place.”

Assessing urban vitality and its determinants in high-speed rail station areas in the Yangtze River Delta, China

“…The developed HSR network provides an important underpinning infrastructure for urban development. The place quality of HSR station area is understood from spatial, economic, and experiential dimensions (Du et al, 2021). Similarly, previous case studies (Chen, 2020;Yin et al, 2015) argued that the dynamics of urban development in HSR station areas were associated with three dimensions at both station and city levels--the characteristics of infrastructure, urban economic performance, and institutions.…”

Selection of Rail Station Locations on an Intercity Route Regarding Maximum Users’ Economic Profits

“…Projects for the optimal location of train stations have been planned to maximise the users' economic benefits in train stations. These projects convert the railroad stations into innovative community hubs [20][21][22]. Location theory is within the scope of regional and spatial economics because it studies the types, places and logic of economic activities.…”

How Do Socio-Demographic Characteristics Affect Users’ Perception of Place Quality at Station Areas? Evidence from Amsterdam, The Netherlands

“…Building on Bertolini's node-place model, station areas exhibit both characteristics of a traffic node (emphasizing the transit services) and of urban place (emphasizing the economic development of surrounding urban space). While the original model equated the place value with economic activity, namely, the number of employees, commercial establishments, and office buildings, subsequent research has applied and extended this model, refining the functions of "urban place", and highlighting users' experiences of social life [28,29]. Groenendijk et al [21] extended the node-place model with a third dimension: the experience lens that provides improvements of users' comfort.…”