RAILWAY STATIONS AS BOTH NODES AND PLACES: A CASE STUDY OF THE SUZHOU RAILWAY STATION (???)

Abstract

China is in a phase of the construction of superlatives, and this is particularly evident for the rail. Operating railway stations in China today tend to be grand, iconic and spacious hubs, a far cry from its former more organic and human scaled forms which tend to carry important social purposes that have extended beyond their deaths. As the rail emerges to be an important and integral part of Chinese life, what roles do this new railway stations play? At first glance, they seem to be rather impersonal, unfriendly to pedestrians and be devoid of street life, places which the author Jan Gehl in ‘Cities for People’ might describe as failing public places. However, since railway stations are not completely merely places, it is important to assess them as both nodes in a transport network and public places. The research undertaken in this dissertation took place over slightly more than three months, with my stay from 1st March 2013 to 15th July 2013 conducting research through observations of the spaces of the Suzhou railway station, a railway station that is rather representative of these new operating railway stations in China, and their uses and the interviewing of 16 individuals which have all contributed to answering the research question, ‘What are the activity patterns of users of the railway stations, using the Suzhou railway station as a case study, and what are the characteristics of the physical environment that are associated with, or supported by, these activities?’ It is hoped that the research results gathered could contribute to an understanding of Suzhou railway station as a place with unique features akin to both a node and a place.