From stations to urban hubs: the challenges of multimodal governance and their effects on the (re)organisation of metropolitan transit nodes
The station of the 21st century is no longer just a railway node. It is a multimodal hub accommodating a growing number of means of transport, a public space, a commercial and service centre, and the support of compact, sustainable urbanisation (Triggianese, 2019). In the contemporary context of mobility growth and land scarcity in European metropolises, stations have a key role to play in the transition towards more sustainable urban forms. Through the concept of « urban hub », this presentation questions the articulation of those functions to create a coherent, legible space that meets both the needs of the citizens in terms of mobility and services, the financing and operating requirements of the transport sector as well as the local policies for sustainable urban development.
How does a metropolitan station turn into an urban hub? The ability of different stakeholders to cooperate appears crucial in the development of mixed-use, user-centred hubs (Poppeliers & al., 2016; Baron, 2019). Genuine multimodal governance can lead to a rationalisation of the use of space, a better urban insertion of infrastructures and greater clarity for the traveller. However, strong institutional, technical and political barriers to this multimodal and multifunctional integration remain. Through examples of multimodal hubs in the Paris city-region and in other European metropolises, this presentation will document the challenges in building such governance, the coordinating tools that are developed at a local scale, and their impacts on the spatial organisation of transit nodes as well as on their ability to answer the growing need for seamless multimodal travel.
Mots clés : Multimodal hubs|Metropolitan stations|Governance|Interinstitutional Cooperation
A102601MP