Transport in Spanish Cities Review Essay: The Second Industrial Revolution and Urban Growth: The Impact of (original) (raw)
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Urban tranformation and the development of Spain's railway network 1850 2000
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The introduction of the high speed rail and urban restructuring: the case of Spain
xesc.cat
The introduction of the high speed rail in Spanish cities with stations located either in the centre of the city or on its outskirts has presented a new opportunity for railways and cities to reconcile their differences. The introduction and development of railway infrastructure, which began back in the 19 th century, combined with rapid urban growth created a problem of integration that was never satisfactorily resolved. With time, railway workshops, warehouses and other centrally located railway installations and tracks became trapped in central locations where they constituted divisive barriers. The arrival of the new high speed train (HST) was therefore regarded by many Spanish cities as an excellent opportunity for these cities and their rail installations to resolve long-standing differences. This article presents some examples in which notable synergies have been achieved between the implantation of the HST lines and the urban model. Our analysis centres on large and medium-sized non-metropolitan cities, as they tend to be less complex systems with only one railway station.
The Railway Network and the Process of Population Concentration in Spain, 1900-2001
Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 2014
ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a methodology for quantifying the territorial impact on population distribution of the railway. The central hypothesis is that access to railway services provides the best-connected areas with a long-term comparative advantage over others that are less accessible. Carrying out a historical analysis and providing comparable data at the municipal level allows us to determine the extent to which the railway has fostered the concentration of population within its immediate surroundings. The case study presented here is that of Spain between 1900 and 2001, but the same methodology could equally be applied to any other country for which the required data are available. In this case, key data included a Geographic Information System with information about both the development of the railway network and census data relating to total population at the municipal level. The results obtained suggest the relevance of this methodology, which makes it possible to identi...
The introduction of the high speed rail in Spanish cities with stations located either in the centre of the city or on its outskirts has presented a new opportunity for railways and cities to reconcile their differences. The introduction and development of railway infrastructure, which began back in the 19 th century, combined with rapid urban growth created a problem of integration that was never satisfactorily resolved. With time, railway workshops, warehouses and other centrally located railway installations and tracks became trapped in central locations where they constituted divisive barriers. The arrival of the new high speed train (HST) was therefore regarded by many Spanish cities as an excellent opportunity for these cities and their rail installations to resolve long-standing differences. This article presents some examples in which notable synergies have been achieved between the implantation of the HST lines and the urban model. Our analysis centres on large and medium-s...
Social Science History
The initial period of construction of the Spanish railway network is often criticized for its radial structure, centered on Madrid. In this article, the authors describe the role of the state during the initial stage of railway network construction and confirm that although the political will to construct a centralist network certainly influenced its morphology, other social and economic criteria were also influential. With regard to the political motives behind the radial network, the authors argue that part of this interest could have come in response to perceived needs to strengthen the presence of the Spanish state throughout its national territory and to promote a process of state-building. Finally, it must be stressed that the central hypothesis of our article is that the radial structure of the network was a natural consequence of the strategic geographical position of the country’s capital and of the distribution of economic activity within Spanish territory. The article pro...
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