The high speed train and the urban project: a new railway for the Zaragoza of the third millennium

Abstract

The arrival of the high speed train has generated considerable expectation with respect to the socio-economic benefits that it brings with it. Even so, experience shows that the capacity of the train to dynamise a territory depends on a series of factors that include the characteristics and dynamics of the specific context and the strategies employed at the local scale. One of the first impacts associated with the introduction of new infrastructure is the spatial transformation that this generates. In some cases, the arrival of the HST implies rethinking the existing local rail system which, to a greater or lesser degree, produces a significant urban transformation. In this work, we present the experience of the city of Zaragoza. The arrival of the high speed train provided the city with an important opportunity to develop a very ambitious urban planning project, which also served as a powerful tool for implementing some of the socio-economic strategies outlined in different development projects.