© M. Albertelli
Variations in the urban insertion of French railway stations. Three-faced metropolitan infrastructures: technique, monument and services
Marion Albertelli (Géographie-Cités / SNCF Gares&Connexion) defended her thesis under the supervision of Jean Debrie, Professeur des Universités en Aménagement de l’espace et Urbanisme (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / Géographie-cités) entitled Variations in the urban insertion of French railway stations. Three-faced metropolitan infrastructures: technique, monument and services on February 16.
Members of the jury
Laurent DEVISME, Professeur, ENSA Nantes, UMR AAU (rapporteur)
Valérie FACCHINETTI-MANNONE, Maîtresse de Conférences (HDR), Université de Bourgogne, UMR 6049 (rapporteure)
Marco DIANA, Professeur Associé, Politecnico di Torino, DIATI (examinateur)
Nathalie ROSEAU, Directrice de recherche, École des Ponts ParisTech, LATTS (Présidente de jury)
Jean DEBRIE, Professeur, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR Géographie-cités (Directeur)
Morgane DELARC, Chargée de missions AMO, AREP (membre invitée)
Philippe DUJARDIN, Responsable du Pôle Prospective et Programmation, SNCF Gares&Connexions (membre invité)
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the urban insertion of railway stations. Numerous studies have examined the mutations of stations. They allow us to identify the circulation of international models in Japan, North America and Europe. In these models, stations are not only transport infrastructures, but also “people’s stations”, “civic centers” or “public squares”. For the actors involved in making the city, stations are three-faced: monument, technique and services. Studying the station through the prism of urban insertion requires to understand it as a socio-technical object and provides new insights, at different scales, into each of its faces.
To do so, we propose an approach combining the analysis of accessibility, service functions and socio-spatial identity of the stations. This typological approach, using qualitative and quantitative data but also typology as an analytical tool rather than a final result, enables to deal with the relationships between planners, and the multiple aspects of urban insertion. It is based on an original comparison of thirty stations in fifteen French cities. A survey conducted with 2072 commuters, combined with discourse analysis and a study of stations’ functions and forms, highlights the scales of relationships that link railway stations, territories and practices. The results are organized according to three types of interface – station-city, station-territory, station-urban system – in order to structure the different dimensions of the urban insertion of stations and propose a synthesis of their variations.
