CITIES, USERS AND THEIR RAILWAYS - 4th International Railway History Conference

Mechelen, 27-29 May 2010

Jointly organized by: THE CITY OF MECHELEN & HERITAGE CENTRE LAMOT,
THE BELGIAN STATE RAILWAYS (SNCB HOLDING)
THE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORY ASSOCIATION

Registration now open - www.mechelen.be/railwayconference

The 19th century stations of major cities were constructed as temples of modernism opening the gate to a new world. Stations strongly affected different aspect of city development: mobility, city planning (including the establishment of unique neighbor-hoods and social environments), architecture and urban development, etc.

As such stations acquired an identity in a sometimes tense relationship with the city. Moreover, station design was reflected by the establishment of a railroad network. The necessity of rail companies posed new challenges for the cities, not only in terms of urbanization, but also in terms of network construction, network design and architecture.

Railway stations evolved after the Second World War in many countries to non-places or even negative environments. They degraded to necessary, functional, multimodal transit centers. Today, however, this evolution stopped and a newgeneration of railway stations and railway neighborhoods is born. Stations arerediscovered, and even reinvented. A renewed sensation of station areas is ex-perienced, improving the integration into the urban fabric. This new trend raises several questions: questions about urban planning and mobility, livability, but also about sustainability, heritage and social embedding of urban regeneration in historicsites and neighborhoods.

More information on http://lamot-mechelen.be/erfgoed/reflectie-programmawhere