Charlotta CAPITAO PATRAO, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Anders LARSSON, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Integrating transportation and land use development at railway stations is high on the agenda in many areas as one answer to the sustainability challenges. The concept of ‘station communities’ has been introduced to the planning discourse in Sweden in the last decade. Framed as a model for development of sustainable public transport and land-use planning, the concept has been invoked to support increased density and mixed land use around train stations, inspired by transit-oriented development. However, in the new multi-level planning context facing Swedish regional and local authorities, small town station community projects are situated between regional infrastructure and transport planning on one hand, and municipalities interested in developing their towns in connection with railways on the other. Attempts to develop station community strategies for smaller rural towns face several potential pitfalls. A key one is the lack of scale needed to attract enough activities and travel to build a sustainable economic environment.
This paper examines the concept of station communities in a Swedish context of small towns and sparsely populated areas. The focus is on the practical implementation by planners and policy makers at different levels.
Findings based on qualitative interviews with actors on various administrative levels show that municipalities see an opportunity for local development based on stations providing connections to the regional labour market. However, the regional actors are less inspired by the potential for bottom–up growth and development and focus instead on traditional infrastructure planning. Also, a lack of clarity regarding the concept of station communities creates a situation in which local initiatives are abandoned. One key reason identified is the division between local land-use planning at the station level by municipalities, and infrastructure and transport planning at the regional level by regional and national authorities
Mots clés : planning|land-use|infrastructure|planning process|rural towns
A103932CC