Analysis model of the development of high-speed train station

， ，

(1.Development Center of Information Industry of China, Beijing 100846, China; 2.University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1012 WX, the Netherlands)



Analysis model of the development of high-speed train station

HOUXue1，BERTOLINILuca2，NIANPeihao1

(1.Development Center of Information Industry of China, Beijing 100846, China; 2.University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1012 WX, the Netherlands)

The development of high-speed train(HST) stations are becoming an increasingly important strategy to transform urban space. In the West, HST is viewed as a key factor to improve competitiveness, while in China, it is mainly used as a means to redevelop and upgrade urban space. Light is shed on the development of HST stations in two metropolitan areas in both contexts: Tianjin in China, and the Randstad in the Netherlands. Based on the stations' node and place characteristics, we have analyzed the stations in these two regions and found that the HST stations differ in development preferences and types. Three main driving forces are found to influence the development of stations and also account for the differences among the stations: urban development patterns, urban economic growth, and the decision-making process.

high-speed train; urban space; node quality; place quality; Tianjin; the Randstad

Each revolution in transport mode has had profound impacts on the development of cities and the wider urban structures. With the unique characteristics of accommodating large passenger flows in a direct and rapid manner, the advent of the HST is bound to have a great influence on urban development, particularly in the station area as this is where the HST meets and interacts with existing urban space.The introduction of HST system not only entails the building of new infrastructures and an upgrade of the transport network, but also attracts new economic activities and improves urban competitiveness, leading to a further restructuring of urban space[1-3]. Correspondingly, urban development factors also influence the development of the station. Among the studies of HST station development[4], it is found that the particular contexts and circumstances affect the outcomes of such development. Much of the existing literatures on station development are however focused on a narrow number of prominent and widely publicized projects in Europe like Euralille, King's Cross in London, and Amsterdam Zuidas[5-7]. These cases are drawn from just one country or from similar regions. For this reason, they are less helpful for understanding how and why differences occur or do not occur in a more general sense.

HST station can be seen as a stone cast into a pond: once built, the surrounding cities will experience a "ripple effect". The magnitude and nature of this effect depend strongly on the urban context. Differences in institutional setup, levels of development, as well as geographic and traffic conditions among cities can all mitigate, enhance or redirect the effects of the HST. A prominent example of where HST is rapidly developing is China, and with it, the phenomenon of the "HST station town" is gaining worldwide attention. This development model is different from the European one. Consequently, the traditional development theory may not be applicable for the analysis of projects including China[8].The impacts that the HST will bring all depend on the unique mechanism of interaction between HST and urban development. We already know from the existing literature how HST stations develop in developed countries; but how does this occur in developing nations? What are the similarities and differences of the development of station areas in countries with different urban conditions and what are the driving forces behind these differences?

To address these questions is vital to figure out how station areas develop in different urban contexts and to draw general conclusions. In order to explore and understand the impacts of context, two metropolitan areas were selected for comparison: Tianjin and the Randstad. These two urban regions have some geographic similarities, they are both located near the capital. They also have similarities in terms of spatial structure and urban function, both being polycentric and having an important port function. Starting from these similarities, we focus on the micro scale of the stations and their neighborhood areas to gain more insight into the relationship between HST and urban development and to explore the reasons behind the emergent differences between the two cases.

1 Overview of Tianjin and the Randstad's Urban Space

In this article, we treat the Randstad as a city in Europe to compare with Tianjin, considering commensurable urban size and population. The notion of Randstad Holland as a city is common and popular after the fourth national planning. Therefore, we raise its standing within the urban hierarchy of Europe and take it as a "mega city", a very large functional urban region, which can be compared with Tianjin. The main similarities and differences between Tianjin and the Randstad are shown respectively in Tab.1 and Tab.2.

Tab.1 Main similarities between Tianjin and the Randstad

Tab.2 Main differences between Tianjin and the Randstad

2 Analysis of HST Station Development

2.1 Characters of stations

According to Bertolini's theory[9-10], a station has two basic characters, which are node and place. The node represents its transport function, which means rapid evacuating and gathering people. The place represents its urban function, which means keeping urban activities and transferring urban life. The development of node quality decides the accessibility of the HST station, while the development of place quality decides the diversity and interplay of social activities at the station areas. The node and place qualities have interrelated relationship. The node-place model[11]distinguishes several typical situations of a station area which is shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig.1, the dependence part means that node and place are both weak, there is no self-supporting development dynamics. The balance part means node and unbalanced place qualities are both well developed. Unbalanced node and place means one of the characters is developed stronger than the other. The stress part means that the station is over-developed where both the node and the place have been used to the fullest[12].The changes of a station's node and place qualities are important parts of the urban structure. The node quality may affect urban transport structure. The place quality may affect urban spatial structure. They would have different combinations. It represents whether high-speed railway traffic in the city is just a tool to enhance region accessibility, or is an important growth pole to promote the development of urban areas. Thus, to understand the quality development of the stations is the key to explore how HST station zones develop.

2.2 Types of HST stations

The development of HST station zones is a constantly evolving process. The station type could signify the development preferences of the station development.Considering the influences of the urban context, we think the node and place functions of a HST station will have different development qualities. In terms of the development of space quality, we can have two classifications: the place only to meet and the important city center. On the other hand, in terms of the node quality, it can be classified as either just a traffic connector or an important traffic pivot[13].The node quality and place quality would have different combinations.Based on Luca Bertolini's node-place model and the station's development quality, we classify HST stations into five types: preliminary development HST station, node-growing HST station, place-growing HST station, balanced development HST station, and declining development HST station. A station type is not permanently fixed. It can change into another type when the driving forces of station development change.

3 Station Development in Tianjin and the Randstad

3.1 Location of station

According to the documents about HST planning, almost all new HST stations in China are located at the periphery so as to have access to enough blank space. At the same time, after checking all the locations of HST stations in the West, we find that nearly all HST stations in Europe are located at the city center. Thus, the biggest difference of HST stations between China and the West is the choice of location. Tianjin prefers locations with certain distance from the city center. The surrounding areas have enough empty space and potential to build new structures and attract new economic activities. The Randstad prefers locations in the city center, with surrounding areas being highly developed with diverse economic activities.

3.2 Character development of station

The HST stations in Tianjin and the Randstad all include node quality development and place quality development, but the contents of development are different. The development of node quality in Tianjin HST stations is a key project with an important chance to renovate and build the urban transport network. The station is dedicated for HST. All the relevant transport infrastructures around the station areas are newly built, meaning new railway links, new public infrastructures, and new nodes of urban traffic network. The Randstad would rather improve outward transport accessibility to other cities based on existing infrastructures. This means improving railway links, upgrading infrastructures, and reinforcing the node effect. The station provides services of HST and normal trains. With regard to place quality, Tianjin HST station buildings have always been seen as the urban gateway and an urban symbol. That is why the station keeps on pursuing a magnificent and exaggerated style. At the same time, the surrounding areas of the stations are almost developed from scratch. The land-use are mainly planned to be office and business buildings. The HST station buildings in the Randstad prefer a sustainable design that blends into surrounding buildings. The surrounding areas are more mix used, not only office and business, but also housing and homes. Also, the surrounding areas are developed from some existing urbanized land.

3.3 Types of stations

In China, the main role to develop the stationrests on government actors. The market actors may have some influences, especially in the south of China, but the general public rarely has influence on planning and policy making. Based on different development interests of relevant urban actors and the conditions of surrounding areas, the node quality of HST stations is developed faster than place quality in Tianjin. We can see the effects of the node quality earlier. The relevant actors thus need to focus more on place quality development of station zones to catch up with the node quality.

The situation in the Randstad is different. An important role of developing HST stations is taken up by market actors. The main function of government actors is to coordinate and make plans. The place quality of the stations is comparatively mature. To some extent, the development of node quality meets the requests of the place quality. The place quality will show its effects earlier. The relevant actors need to think how to make more space for improving the node quality further as well as for making maximum profits.

4 Possible Explanations

4.1 Different urban development patterns

Different urban development patterns would produce different development characters and needs of station development. As we known, even though Tianjin and the Randstad have similar population density and urban structure, they still have different urban development patterns and policies. First, Tianjin focuses on expanding the city into a big metropolis while the Randstad focuses on transforming the city into a more concentrated metropolis. The different urban development patterns have influences on the choice of HST station location. In Tianjin, the locations of HST stations prefer suburbs or undeveloped areas, so as to give impetus to the development of surrounding areas into sub-centers. At these areas, the place quality of stations almost starts from nothing. This is also one of the reasons why the node quality develops more quickly than the place quality. Meanwhile, in the Randstad, the locations of HST stations prefer the economic centers of the city, which have good place quality foundation, but this can lead to increased difficulty and time to build relevant transport infrastructures.

4.2 Different kinds of economic growth

HST station has always been seen as a good catalysis to urban development, whether in Tianjin or in the Randstad. However, when we talk about the specialized role of HST station in fixing urban problems, the two places have some differences. Tianjin and the Randstad are in different urban development stages, resulting in different demands for HST development. As we mentioned before, Tianjin is actively developing economic reform and innovation. The fast economic growth and industrial transformation produce a lot of demands and chances for renovation of urban spatial structure. This period is important for the Tianjin economy to upgrade and to transit to a higher level, requiring urban transport to provide higher density and higher quality services. During this period, HST is introduced into Tianjin as a key means to meet the urban needs. Therefore, the HST stations in Tianjin are not only key nodes to upgrade the urban transport network but also serve important roles to renew urban space into high-end areas for service industry.

As for the Randstad, what it needs at present is to keep and improve urban competitiveness to maintain foreign investments. The HST station zones development is not only a kind of transport method to complement the connection between the Randstad and other countries, but it is also a means to improve urban competitiveness and to remain competitive in the international arena for the top segment of office markets.

4.3 Different decision-making processes and involved actors of HST stations

There are three different actors involved in HST stations' development: the government, market investors, and local people. Different actors have different interests and behaviors in HST stations' development, asin well as different policy-making processes. These factors also lead to different preferences in HST stations' development.

The HST development in Tianjin involves a "top-down" decision-making process. In the process of the Tianjin HST development, the main urban actors involved are the national government and the local government. Actually, the general public could not provide many opinions at the beginning of the HST development. The national government will decide where and how the HST line should be built, and the local government would take charge of the development of the HST station. Investors have some influences on the surrounding areas of the HST stations, but the overall planning of these areas is still mostly decided by the government. With interests in urban development and in a vanity project, the government actors would care for both node quality development and place quality development. The node quality development for government actors is easier than place quality development in Tianjin. This is because the node quality development only involves government actors (railway development or relevant public transport all belong to the government), who have the same target and whose manner of working tend to favor confluence of opinions and conformability. However, the place quality development of surrounding areas of the stations cannot be decided only by the government, it is also influenced by market economy. In the centralized policy-making process, investors still do not have too much say in the quality development of HST stations, but they can act on their interests and rights to choose their investments. Sometimes, the HST stations cannot meet the interests of investors. Therefore, the place quality of surrounding areas of HST stations in China may need more time and more coordination and matching-up between what the government offers and what the investors want.

The HST development in the Randstad is a more "bottom-up" decision-making process, which means that the HST development is more based on the interests of the public and the market. The main urban actors involved in the process of the development are the national government, the local government, the railway company, private partners, and local residents. The national government is the principal actor regarding the construction of the HST; the local government is the initiator of the redevelopment of HST stations. The railway company and private partners have great influences on the surrounding areas of the stations[14]. The municipalities have taken several initiatives to involve residents in the redevelopment process. The local residents have had quite a lot of influences on the decision making. Thus, the local government, railway company, and local residents are all leading the development of HST stations. The location and the development of surrounding areas of HST stations are mostly decided by investors and local residents; therefore the HST station zones would meet the interests of the public and the market. The market orientation means that the place quality is based on meeting the demands of as many stakeholders as possible, as well as making the maximum profits. Therefore, in the West, the place quality of HST stations is developed faster and better. However, node quality lags behind. The further development of node quality is needed to further meet the demands of surrounding areas.

5 Implications

There are three important lessons we could learn from the comparisons of the cases.

1) Find a suitable location.

In Tianjin, with its background of rapid urban growth and a policy of expanding urban space, a peripheral location is preferable. Tianjin needs its HST station to become a new transport hub to transform and upgrade to the urban transport network. The fast urban growth would also provide good basic conditions for the development of the station. In this situation, the peripheral location might be better to allow full play of positive influences of the HST station.

In cities like the Randstad, which are experiencing slow urban growth or in a comparatively stable state, a peripheral station can easily become a "desert station". Because of this, a central location seems better for the HST station to improve urban competitiveness or to bring vitality to the urban center. In a word, the choice of station location should meet the needs of urban growth.

2) Station development should match regional growth profile.

The above analyses have shown that different urban economic demands led to different development characteristics of stations in Tianjin and in the Randstad. The main development style in Tianjin is brand-new construction and a mega-gateway project. The development target of the Tianjin HST stations is to create a new traffic hub and business center. The rapid economic growth coupled with the shift from secondary to tertiary industry has provided the conditions and the need for new high-end destinations. The main development style in the Randstad, by contrast, is upgrading and improving. The role of HST in the Randstad is more supportive of the surrounding areas. The Randstad has slow economic growth with stable industries. These two factors produce little demand for new locations or new business centers, but the area still needs improvement of its node and place qualities to maintain competitiveness. The case of Randstad demonstrates that not all HST cities need brand-new mega gateway projects, but the station development should follow the urban economic demands. When a HST city with fast economic growth seeks to upgrade its economic base, the HST could be a good catalyst the development of station areas into a high-quality urban environment. When a HST city has a stable economic performance with slow economic growth, HST could be a useful tool to help the station areas develop better node and place qualities.

3) Choose a fitting strategy for development.

In Tianjin, government actors play the main role in developing the HST stations. The centralized top-down institutional structure is strongly organized to develop the surrounding areas. The strong organization of the government makes sure that the interests in the station development process are relatively consistent. It is easier to see the line of responsibility and the target of station development in this way. However, the top-down institution lacks market sensitivity, which may lead to situations where supply exceeds demand, or supply is insufficient to meet market demand. It takes a long time to coordinate the node and the place factors, and to bring about positive effects. In the Randstad, the development of station areas involves multiple actors. The bottom-up institutional arrangement is better positioned to meet market demands. However, the multiplicity of actors means that it takes longer to reach a compromise and it takes more organizational capacity to balance different interests and make decisions.

Through the comparisons, we could find differences in HST station development and uncover the main reasons for these differences. It is hard to say which strategy is better, but we can say that the most suitable one is the best. In China, apparently, learning from West integrally is not always the best way to develop an HST station: one should respect one's own context and needs. This being said, the West could still learn a bit from the "decisive attitude" of the Chinese when developing HST stations to maximize its positive effects.

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1673-0291(2016)06-0134-07

2015-08-03

侯雪(1985—)，女，辽宁沈阳人，博士.研究方向为产业与区域规划.email: houxue1212@163.com.

高铁站点发展空间分析模型研究

侯 雪1，Luca Bertolini2，念沛豪1

(1. 中国电子信息产业发展研究院，北京 100846；2. 阿姆斯特丹大学,荷兰 阿姆斯特丹1012 WX)

高铁站地区的发展对城市空间质量的影响越来越大.在西方，高铁站往往作为提升城市竞争力的重要因素；在中国，高铁站则是城市空间质量转型升级的重要契机.通过节点与场所模型，以中国天津和荷兰兰斯塔德为例，探索不同驱动力下高铁站地区的发展方向与城市角色.研究发现：城市发展模式、城市经济属性和利益主体的决策模式成为影响高铁站发展的三大驱动力.

高速铁路；城市空间；节点质量；场所质量；天津；兰斯塔德

K902

A

10.11860/j.issn.1673-0291.2016.06.022