In my last blog post about the effects of High Speed Rail (HSR) stations on cities in Europe, I discussed the architecture of several notable HSR station buildings that have attracted a great deal of attention in and of themselves.  However, a memorable building alone isn’t sufficient to generate the so-called HSR Effect, which can attract economic growth, tourism, and investment in complimentary local transportation infrastructure such as light rail to cities.

For instance, the HSR station at the airport in Lyons, France, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is a beautiful building, with an innovative curved black ‘wing’ rising from the terminal. However, the station has not yet resulted in much development in the area.

European cities certainly aren’t relying on “star-chitecture” alone to generate urban development around HSR stations.  Soon after the gorgeous HSR station opened in Liège, Belgium in 2009, the city also completed the nearby Mediacite commercial center.  What had been a decrepit industrial area is now a 160,000 square meter business and leisure center, complete with retail outlets, restaurants, office space, and a host of other luxury amenities. These two projects have transformed the Longdoz district of Liège, which is now expected to draw up to 7 million customers and visitors a year.

New HSR stations have also been instrumental in the selection of sites for other important new cultural attractions, such as museums. These cases may reveal a new dynamic for urban transformation, as the HSR Effect becomes intertwined with the Guggenheim Effect to attract tourism and prestige to formerly run-down industrial cities.

This year, the Pompidou Center Art Museum opened a new museum in the town of Metz in eastern France. Accessible by an 80-minute TGV ride to central Paris, the Metz Pompidou, designed by architects Shigeru Ban, Jean de Gastines and Philip Gumuchdjian, has generated a big buzz in the architecture world, largely because of its complex, freeform, tent-like roof.  Ban has said that they designed the building to be inviting and open to the outside world, and conceived of the vast entryway to be “like a train station.” 

Similarly, The Louvre will open a new satellite museum in 2012 in the town of Lens, France, which also has a HSR station connecting visitors to Paris in just over an hour.

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A GMF blog post by Ben Adler in September 2009 discussed the economic potential of high-speed rail, citing governmental and business leaders in Strasbourg, France, who agreed that their area had benefitted from the “High-Speed Rail Effect,” a host of civic advantages that can result from, or arrive alongside, new High-Speed Rail (HSR) service. These effects include attraction of new businesses, increases in tourism, and investment in local transportation infrastructure such as light rail or metro that serves the train station.

I am currently in Europe completing a German Marshall Fund Comparative Domestic Policy Fellowship, where I’ve been investigating examples of the HSR Effect. After nearly 30 years of HSR in France, and its rapid expansion over the past decade in Spain, Italy, and other areas, there are many examples of the ability of HSR station projects to stimulate urban renovation and economic growth. The HSR Effect has been generated most successfully when urban planners and politicians use policy tools and design principles to coordinate economic development, local transportation investment, and housing and commercial development.

In some cities, new train stations with high-speed service are being built as iconic architectural attractions. In much the same way the so-called ‘Guggenheim effect’ is credited with transforming Spain’s Bilbao through the iconic Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum, a few HSR stations have been designed by some of the world’s most famous architects. These stations strive to create a new identity for a revitalized neighborhood, or even the city as a whole.

Renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed the new train station in Liège, Belgium, which opened to worldwide acclaim in 2009.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/09/28/calatravas-high-speed-rail-station-opens-in-liege/calatrava-tgv-station-1/

Calatrava also designed the beautiful Oriente Station in Lisbon, the Stadelhofen in Zurich, and the HSR station at the airport in Lyons, France. Of his newest station, Calatrava said, “It was my goal to create a 21st century transportation facility that would not only unite Liège with the rest of Europe, but would also serve as a symbol of the city’s renewal. The project, as a whole, creates a new gateway into Liège and re-establishes a relationship with the city.”

While great architecture alone is not sufficient to generate the HSR Effect and transform areas around rail stations, at its best it can improve the experience of large numbers of travelers and change the reputation of cities.

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