Unravelling Decision-Making Processes on Location Choices for High-Speed Railway Stations in China: A Comparison of Shenzhen, Lanzhou and Jingmen

Abstract

Most High-Speed Railway (HSR) station areas in China can be found at the urban periphery or in suburban areas, a phenomenon that has often been criticised. While debate about the influence these location choices have on the economic and sustainable development of cities rages on, little attention has been paid to the decision-making processes leading to these locations. This paper investigates these processes by comparing HSR stations in three cities: Shenzhen, Lanzhou and Jingmen. Our findings can help actors involved in making location choices develop awareness of different interests and create the conditions for successful development of HSR station areas.

Transit-Oriented Development in China: A Comparative Content Analysis of the Spatial Plans of High-Speed Railway Station Areas

“…The development and implementation of spatial plans for HSR station areas is a complex process that involves various actors with different interests [25,61,62]. In a decentralized context, Chinese local governments play a more important role in planning and developing HSR station areas because the land around the station and part of the funds are owned by local governments [32]. The location of the HSR station is a result of negotiations between China Railway (CR) 1 , provincial governments, and local governments.…”

“…The high accessibility of the station area can spur the price of housing and land [87][88][89]. A large number of Chinese HSR stations are built in suburban or rural areas, where a large number of farmers have lost their land and lack the income to buy new properties [32,54]. Their resettlement should also be considered as an important context for TOD planning.…”

“…At the same time, the urban and economic developments of station areas are impeded because they are far from the built-up urban areas. Wang et al [32] explained that there was little space left in the built-up areas of megacities and large cities, and demolition costs were unaffordably high for local governments. Railway actors would prefer to keep railway lines straight, and because stations for small-and medium-sized cities are regarded as unimportant nodes, they are usually located far away from those cities.…”

“…Especially in the development of HSR station areas, most local governments and planners have promoted their programs as supporting and following TOD principles; however, their plans actually contradict the core concepts of TOD in terms of functional mix, vitality, diversity, livability, and walkability [29,30]. In contrast to the regeneration around existing stations in Europe and Japan, most Chinese HSR station areas are located in suburban regions and occupy large areas of land [31,32]. These HSR new towns are planned to catalyze urbanization and transform the economic structure, which has been criticized by scholars for causing urban sprawl [22,25,33].…”