ABSTRACT

High-speed rail (HSR) has often transformative effects on cities and regions, potentially increasing both mobility and accessibility in an unprecedented way. HSR systems may also have important physical impacts, altering the built environment of station-neighbourhoods and affecting municipal economies. However, not all cities have witnessed positive effects from HSR, and benefits from HSR systems have been unevenly distributed among cities (Vickerman 2007, Martínez and Givoni 2012). A number of studies have examined the impacts of HSR projects on station cities (Loukaitou-Sideris et al. 2013, Murakami and Cervero 2010, Nuworsoo and Deakin 2009). They have observed differential impacts depending on the type of city (first-or secondtier) (Garmendia et al. 2012a), its distance from other major cities on the network (Garmendia et al. 2012b), the condition of the local economy and land market, and station location (central or peripheral) within a city (Ureña et al. 2012). Additionally, most scholars agree on the importance of two factors: connectivity of the HSR station with other transportation modes, and anticipatory planning, i.e., planning for the station area (van den Berg and Pol 1997, Bazin et al. 2006, Meer et al. 2012).