Xarxa ferroviària i sistema de ciutats

• Autores: Eduard Álvarez Palau
• Directores de la Tesis: Manuel Herce Vallejo (dir. tes.), Francesc Magrinyà (dir. tes.), Jordi Martí Henneberg (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) ( España ) en 2015
• Idioma: catalán
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Joaquim Sabaté Bel (presid.), Horacio Capel Sáez (secret.), Magda de Avelar Pinheiro (voc.)
• Programa de doctorado: Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería e Infraestructuras del Transporte
• Materias:
  • Ciencias tecnológicas
    • Tecnología de la construcción
      • Ingeniería civil
      • Planificación urbana
  • Ciencias económicas
    • Economía sectorial
      • Transportes y comunicaciones
  • Ciencias de las artes y las letras
    • Arquitectura
      • Urbanismo
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
• Resumen

  • The relationship between the railway network and the city system has been the subject of numerous studies in recent decades. The railway has assumed great importance as a key element of transport infrastructure for the both regional organisation of the cities and associated territories that it connects. It has conditioned such different phenomena as urban morphology, socio-economic development and the regional hierarchy of settlements. The proliferation of Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) and the creation of territorial databases has opened the door to a series of new ways of analysing the possible effects associated with the railway. The current work proposes new methods and instruments which make it possible to model and quantify a number of new explanatory variables and to thereby provide a better understanding of the resulting correlations. Understanding that the use of macroscopic models does not always guarantee a sufficient degree of explanation, we have also proposed a series of case studies to establish the conditions under which these correlations are obtained. Models that study the correlations between railway coverage and population growth, territorial accessibility and the distribution of population, and the impact of railways and strategies for territorial expansion are just a few of the tools presented here. Morphological analyses of cities in relation to the railway, rail colonisation based on the railway network, and the relationship between rail infrastructure and regional development are just a few of the themes that we have studied in detail with the aim of improving our understanding of the specific dynamics involved. This study also demonstrates the great potential of the railway to transform the city system. However, this is a potential has not always been appropriately exploited by railway promotors nor by the inhabitants of the territories served by the railway network. It is essential to structure specific urban planning policies in order to maximise the benefits accruing to the local territory and to minimise the negative impact that the railway has on it. The current study proposes a number of indicators that could help to achieve both of these goals.