What makes a city? Planning for "quality of place": The case of high-speed train station area redevelopment

What makes a city? Planning for "quality of place": The case of high-speed train station area redevelopment

Trip, J.J.

Priemus, H. (promotor)
Kloosterman, R.C. (promotor)

OTB

2007-03-20

Urban quality is generally considered increasingly important for urban competitiveness. Nevertheless, large urban redevelopment schemes often fail to provide sufficient quality from a user's perspective. This study therefore investigates the role of urban quality in large-scale urban redevelopment, which is here elaborated in terms of Richard Florida's concept of quality of place. In a number of extensive case studies, it focuses on prestigious redevelopment projects around the high-speed rail stations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Lille. Unlike typical office locations such as La Dnse or Canary Wharf, HST stations are often located in city centres. They are important as public spaces, which makes it even more important that they are high-quality urban areas, rather than simply business locations. The study therefore provides an analysis of the role of urban quality in the development of these projects, based on an analysis of the project plans and a series of in-depth interviews with key actors in the planning process. This also results in some insight in the applicability of the concept of quality of place in a wider Dutch context. In conclusion, the study advocates a more open and flexible planning process, based on a distinctly long-term perspective on urban quality. The approaches that come closest to the essence of quality of place tend to be expressed in terms of cultural or human ecology, people-oriented design and the inhabiting of public space. These terms suggest a guided evolution rather than straightforward development.

urban quality
quality of place
railway stations
high-speed train

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a0ee18b2-8cf3-45f7-8e2b-45141ab28ef4

IOS Press

978-1-58603-716-1

Institutional Repository

doctoral thesis

(c) 2007 J.J. Trip