Station area redevelopment in five European countries: An international perspective on a complex planning challenge

Abstract Railway stations and their surroundings are the objects of ambitious redevelopment plans throughout urban Europe. A complex of factors, as diverse as the promotion of sustainable transport and land use, the stimulation of local economies, technological and institutional change, market conjunctures and the spatial impact of globalization and of European integration, drives these initiatives. This paper shows that both differences and similarities characterize national and local approaches to station area redevelopment, through an overview of experiences in France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. In all cases, the ambiguous nature of stations, as both nodes of networks and places in the city, sets the terms of the challenge. Uncertainty in transport and property development prospects, and the multiplicity of actors involved in the transformation, add to its complexity. It is no wonder that, although there are a few ‘success stories’, widespread difficulties and growing disillusion are also reported. There is certainly much to be learned from looking across borders, with one basic condition: that the characteristic dilemmas of station location redevelopment are disentangled from the workings of local and national singularities.