Research on spatial planning evaluation of Beijing Shanghai high speed railway station based on node-place model

1.1 Study on the relationship between regional benefits and city size

Scholars who hold the theory of benefits to small and medium-sized cities: Allport R.J. and Brown M.E pointed out in 1993 that the construction of high-speed rail cannot bring great development in large cities because the original transportation facilities system has been relatively perfect. However, for small and medium-sized cities where original transportation facilities system is relatively immature, the construction of high-speed rail will improve the accessibility between them and large cities, and bring more favorable location conditions for small and medium-sized cities [1]. Urena’s research on French high-speed rail in 2009 found that medium-sized cities between big cities are the biggest beneficiaries of high-speed rail compared with big cities and small cities [2].

Scholars who hold the theory of benefits to big cities believe that the development of high-speed rail will bring spatial polarization in the region, so that big cities can get more benefits. Sasaki’s research shows that Tokyo has the largest growth among the cities along the Shinkansen line after the completion, which shows that the construction of high-speed rail can not solve the problem of excessive concentration of regional resources to large cities [3]. Kim, a Korean scholar, also believed that after the construction of high-speed railway, the surrounding population tends to gather in large cities [4]. Wichmann, a British scholar, also proved that the construction and opening of high-speed rail will lead to the concentration of economic activities and social resources to large cities along the line [5].

1.2 Advantages and disadvantages of passenger stations on urban spatial development pattern

Those who hold the view of positive effect think that the construction of passenger station enhances the accessibility of the region, affects the degree of employment, mixed land development and traffic demand, and promotes the development of the region and the upgrading of the industry [6]. Tim Lynch (1998) found that high-speed rail has a great role in promoting the economic and technological development along the line [7]. PMJ Pol (2003) believed that high-speed rail has a catalytic effect on regional economy, which is mainly manifested in two aspects: the generation of new economic activities and the construction of new infrastructure, so as to promote the economic growth of a region [8]. Oscar (2005) pointed out that the influence of the station on the surrounding areas mainly includes two aspects: on the one hand, the station construction has a great impact on the living and work in the city; on the other hand, the high-speed rail can improve the use efficiency of public transport facilities in the surrounding areas, which is conducive to the alleviation of urban traffic congestion and the development of urban economy and society [9]. Marc Guigon (2011) found that high-speed rail led to the rapid development of the tertiary industry and promoted the regional development through the study of the southern city of Valens in France.

Those who hold the view of negative effects have criticized and questioned the development of high-speed rail. Through the research of European high-speed rail network, Roger Vickerman (1997) pointed out that due to the lack of overall systematic research, the construction and opening of high-speed rail did not solve the problems existing in the development along the line as expected, but caused the continuous accumulation of large cities [10]. Ryan (1999) believed that only being close to a transportation facility locally does not necessarily increase its value, but only when the means of transportation can save travel costs can it really improve the property value. The research of Marc Guigon (2011) shows that high-speed rail will speed up the development of the region, but may cause “tunnel effect” if the local development is in a dilemma. PMJ Pol pointed out in 2003 that the construction and opening of high-speed railway will be more beneficial to those cities with good basic conditions, but the impact on those cities with relatively poor basic conditions is not necessarily so positive. In other words, “it does not mean that every station on the high-speed railway can have a huge impact on the economic development of the city” [11, 12].

Bertolini L thinks that the railway station area is not only the node in the transportation network, but also the place in the urban space, which embodies the transport and functional value of the railway station, and that the balanced development of the node and the place function is the ideal state of the station area. The “node-place” model is a practical theoretical model for evaluating the development of the station area, which is widely used to evaluate the development of the transport hub areas in foreign countries [13, 14], but at present, the research on it only stays in theoretical interpretation in China. In this paper, taking the Beijing-Shanghai line as an example, the transport and functional value of nodes in the high-speed railway station area are calculated respectively, and the sustainability of the planning and development there is evaluated through the “node-place” model, so as to provide basis and suggestions for the planning and development of high-speed railway new towns [6].

2.1 Node-place model

Under the support of TOD concept, Bertolini L put forward the “node-place” structure model of railway passenger station (Fig. 1), and he thought that the most basic function of passenger station is to strengthen the integration of transportation and provide basic transportation services for the emerging multi-center cities. However, with the increase of complexity of railway station area, more attention should be paid to the space development strategy of balanced node and place in railway station area. According to the model, the spatial function of station can be divided into five categories [15]: ➀ Station areas of balanced development, where the transport node function and urban place function of station area have achieved strong development, the developed node is the guarantee of system maintenance and environmental quality improvement in the area where node value and place value are equal and the two functions support each other. ➁ The dependent type station area in a free space without competition, with low traffic demand, not very convenient traffic, and relatively less urban functions, has no demand for further development of traffic due to the lack of local development potential. ➂ Tension type station area that will be in a tense situation with the development potential of efficient use of land which has been explored because the diversity of transportation facilities and land use are close to the maximum. ➃ The station area with node function as the main part has very developed traffic facilities, which are higher than land use activities, and has a small number of urban functions. This imbalance is manifested in the degradation of environmental quality caused by the fragmented land use brought by traffic facilities and traffic jams. But from a development point of view, they are worthy of attention because there may be opportunities to create new functions here. ➄ The place function-oriented station area, where active land-use activities are stronger than the supply of transportation facilities, which has a variety of urban functions and relatively fewer transportation facilities, mainly in those areas where entrepreneurship relies on traditional technology support, because it is too remote for economic flow and a large number of infrastructure construction. They deserve attention from a transport perspective, as there may be opportunities to develop new transport facilities.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Fig.1

Node—Place Model. Source: Refer to Ari Hynynen. Node-Place-Model; A Strategic Tool for Regional Land Use Planning. Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, 2006,4:21-29.

According to the model, the space node function and the place function of the ideal station area should be roughly balanced, that is, in the “rugby” area, there is no dependence or tension in this area, and the traffic is convenient, while the environmental quality of the station area can be better guaranteed.

The node (transport) value reflects the transport attribute of the station, and the accessibility is its main measure index, which is commonly calculated by potential accessibility, weighted average travel time / cost, daily accessibility distance [16] and gravity model method [17]. Among them, potential accessibility is the most widely used method to calculate the regional accessibility of transport nodes [16, 19]. Therefore, in this paper, accessibility is taken as the calculation index of node value, according to the principle that the smaller the distance is, the higher the accessibility level is. The potential economic impact of accessibility on urban development decreases with distance. That is to say, the potential economic impact of j City on i city is directly proportional to the economic scale of j City and inversely proportional to the distance between them. In addition, due to the large correlation between the node accessibility and the economic attraction scale of each node itself, that is, the greater the economic attraction among nodes, the higher the accessibility level. Therefore, in this paper, the potential accessibility calculation method improved by gravity model method is adopted [20]. The formula is as follows: A i = PA i D i = Σ D i D j t _ ij α

Where,

A_i = accessibility of station i;

PA_i = potential accessibility of station i;

D_i, D_j = economic attraction of stations i and j respectively, and the GDP data of the city where the station is located (2016) is substituted into the calculation, GDP comes from the yearbook data published on the website of the National Bureau of statistics of China;

t_ij = travel time from stations i to j (based on the time cost data between stations, the shortest time of high-speed rail between two cities can be obtained on 12306 website);

α= friction coefficient of distance, and the accessibility of regional economic activities is usually taken as 1 [21], so α= 1.

2.3 Calculation of place value in station area

The place (function) value reflects the functional attribute of the station area, which is an assessment of the density and intensity of regional activities, taking into account the planning, as well as the development orientation, main functions, land use and other indicators of the station area [20]. The formula is as follows:

Place functional value of the station = scale of land use×planning intensity factor

Planning strength coefficient = grade coefficient + function coefficient

Where, the scale of land use is the planned land area of high-speed railway new town; the grade coefficient represents the positioning of its own grade and level in the planning of high-speed railway new town, and the higher the positioning is, the larger the value is; the function coefficient represents the degree of diversification of regional functions undertaken by the new high-speed railway city, and the more types of functions, the greater the value (Table 1) [20].

5.1 Calculation of node value of Beijing-Shanghai line

It is found after the value of the nodes is calculated by the calculation formula and then arranged from large to small according to the planning data of the station (Table 2) that, the scale of cities along the Beijing-Shanghai line is related to the node value; the higher the urban functional level is, the greater the node value is; and there are great differences between big and small cities; the node value of big cities is much higher than that of small and medium-sized cities (Table 3, Fig. 2), for example, the node value of Shanghai Hongqiao Station, North Suzhou Station, West Tianjin Station, East Wuxi Station and South Beijing Station is much higher than that of Chuzhou Station, East Suzhou Station, South Bengbu Station, East Tengzhou Station, East Qufu Station and Dingyuan Station, which also shows that the accessibility of big cities is much higher than that of small and medium-sized cities. In addition, the node value of Beijing-Shanghai line is not evenly distributed among stations in big cities, such as Shanghai Hongqiao Station, North Suzhou Station, West Tianjin Station and south Tianjin Station, which are significantly higher than those of South Nanjing Station and West Jinan Station. In contrast, the node value of Beijing-Shanghai line is more evenly distributed in small and medium-sized cities, such as Cangzhou West Station, Langfang Station, Zaozhuang Station and Danyang North Station, which are close in node values.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Fig.2

Node value ranking Source: Author.

According to the station planning data and the place (function) value calculation formula, the place value is calculated (Table 4). In the formula, the scale of land use comes from the planning of high-speed rail new towns of 24 stations, which is mainly reflected in the planned land area of the station area (Table 2); the grade coefficient is the positioning of the station area in the planning, the higher the level is, the larger the value is based on the planning of each station area (Table 1, Table 2); the function coefficient is the diversity degree of the function positioning of the station area, the more diversified the function is, the greater the value is, based on the planning of each station area (Table 1, Table 2).

Table 4 and Fig. 3 show that the site value of Jinan West Station, Dezhou East Station, Xuzhou East Station and Nanjing South Station is significantly higher than that of other stations, while the planning scale of Changzhou North Station, Zhenjiang South Station, Dingyuan Station, Tianjin South Station and Kunshan South Station is small with low place value, and the place value distribution of other stations is relatively balanced and the difference is not significant. In addition, there is no direct relationship between the urban functional level of stations along the line and the value of urban places. In some small and medium-sized cities, the planning and development intensity and scale of the station area even exceed that of large cities. For example, although Beijing South Railway Station is located in the center of the city, the place value is relatively low due to the limitation of the place and the extremely limited development area of the station area. Suzhou East Railway Station is located in a small and medium-sized city, but the planned area of the new town in the station area is far larger than that of Suzhou north railway station, Shanghai Hongqiao Station, Tianjin west station, etc.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Fig.3

Place value ranking Source: Author.

The node-place model map shows that (Fig. 4, Fig. 5), of the 24 stations along the Beijing-Shanghai line, there are two stations with basically balanced value, namely Nanjing Station and Wuxi East Station, accounting for 8.3% of the stations along the line, which are in a relatively balanced development mode, reflecting that the planning of these stations is relatively reasonable. The development of the station area should not only include basic infrastructure projects such as comprehensive transportation, but also focus on the planning, investment and construction of public service projects, so as to form the core attraction of high-speed rail new town by improving the infrastructure. Taking Wuxi East Railway Station as an example, in the 0.533km² core area around the passenger station, a centralized transportation facilities land and a large-scale station square are set up, and the high-speed railway station is taken as the core to vigorously develop exhibition, tourism distribution center, bus terminal, long-distance passenger station, rail transit, etc., so as to strengthen the node function and enhance the connection between the passenger station and the city. In the second circle of 3.98km², a business office area, a business and tourism service area are set in the north of the station area, and a small exhibition area, a commercial shopping center, a specialized market, a large supermarket, hotels, apartments, office buildings, a culture and art center and a square are set in the south of the station area, forming a good symbiotic relationship. In the third circle of 45.62km², a comprehensive culture and sports area and an international comprehensive area are arranged, mainly including an Olympic Sports Center, leisure and entertainment businesses, hotels and guesthouses, international clubs, large-scale public space high-level hotel apartments, large residential areas, neighborhood service centers, etc., extending the traffic driving role of the station. Good functional configuration increases the vitality of station space and promotes the sustainable development of station area.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Fig.5

Beijing-Shanghai Line Station Node-Place Model Evaluation Results.

There are 9 stations in the dependent station area, namely Dingyuan Station, Danyang North Station, Tengzhou East Station, Langfang Station, Zaozhuang Station, Bengbu South Station, Chuzhou South Station, Zhenjiang Station and Tai’an Station, accounting for 37.5% of the stations along the line. They are in the low development area, with low traffic demand and lack of local development demand and potential. The main stations with node function are Kunshan South Station, Changzhou North Station, Beijing South Station, Tianjin West Station, Tianjin South Station, Suzhou North Station and Shanghai Hongqiao Station, accounting for 16.7% of the stations along the line; the main stations with place function are Cangzhou West Station, Suzhou East Station, Qufu East Station, Xuzhou East Station, Dezhou East Station and Jinan West Station, accounting for 25% of the stations along the line. In addition, due to the short development time of station space, there is no tense station space. The results further show that although the station areas of Beijing-Shanghai railway in China have been developed for decades, most of them are still in the initial state; the development of space function value of the station area is relatively unbalanced; there are node-oriented station areas in big cities and place-oriented ones in middle-sized and small cities.