Second Cities: Manchester to Marseille

CONTENTS

Project Introduction

Phase One | Inputs

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7

|

Project Themes Project Advantages Project Aims and Objectives Project Timeline Project Budget Project Roundtable Project Criteria

1

3 4 5 6 7 8,9 10,11

Phase Two | Engagement 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

Manchester Liverpool London Paris Marseille Toulon

13,14 15,16 17,18 19,20 21,22 23,24

Phase Three | Outputs 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

Project Event Project Film City Metric Article Thinking City Article Project Conclusions

26 27,28 29-31 32 33-36

Appendices | 4.1 4.2

Roundtable Transcript Interview Transcript

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

37-44 45,46

| PROJECT INTRODUCTION 1.0

Project Statement:

Second Cities: Manchester to Marseille aims to explore several of the fundamental themes associated with the development of a High Speed Rail [HSR] network in the UK. I propose travel from Manchester to Marseilles a series At its broadest leveltothe project asks whether HSR canviamake of consecutive rail journeys. Travelling from the UK’s emerging a discernible difference to the everyday lives of the people it second city down to France’s established second city, will serves. This has been broken down into three key areas:

allow me to explore three fundamental themes: The level of connectivity to conventional and High-Speed Rail infrastructure, -The level of between HSR and existing theconnectivity interdependence of rail infrastructure and city regions and the infrastructure devolution of power between a countries capital and second city.

-The interdependence between rail infrastructure and city regions The project as a whole would be split into three phases, with the physicalofjourney two)arunning overcapital a four day -The devolution power(Phase between country’s andperiod from the 6th to the 9th of August.

For the UK based part of the journey second city I propose travelling alone, however, the return trip to Marseille via Paris would be made with a fellow Young Urbanist. We would These themes were put forward to be explored and developed look to not only record the journey, the connections en route and within the framework of a research project, in response to The onward connections from Marseille, but would actively seek to Academy of Urbanism’s Young Urbanists Grant Scheme engage with other rail users along Small the way.

Second Cities:

3.

MANCHESTER

1

Direction of travel

LIVERPOOL 2.

1 1.

10.

National journey X4

5.

Regional journey X4

PARIS

9.

The second phase, ‘Engagement’, sits at the heart of the project.

The route from Manchester to Marseille is constructed to provide a intensive snap-shot of the realities of combined conventional and HSR travel; a live intervention based on first hand experience and observation. The four day trip consisted of ten consecutive rail journeys at regional, national and international scales, taking in six cities across two countries.

4

Second Cities | Manchester to Marseille

No. of nights

International journey X2

6.

of wider public and political discourse; speculating on its potential role in providing increased opportunity for customers, developing competitive city regions and acting as a conduit for devolving power between a country’s capital and second city.

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

1

Station/connection

LONDON

beyond; in the form of written, visual and spoken media to be available for circulation the end HSR of September.

The first phase, ‘Inputs’, aims tobyposition in the context

1

Journey number

4.

which began in May 2015. The resultant ‘Second Cities’ project was arranged toour be return carried overaim three separate phases: Upon weout would to disseminate our findings ‘Inputs’, ‘Engagement’ and ‘Outputs’. amongst the Young Urbanists, the Academy of Urbanism and

The final phase, ‘Outputs’, aims to both collate and then disseminate the project findings via a series of diverse media.

The centrepiece of which was an event held at the Academy offices which included a project film, an extensive drawing set and group discussion and feedback. Two articles outlining conclusions were also published online, whilst a project summary setting out recommendations can be found at the end of the report.

1.

2

MARSEILLE 8.

7.

TOULON N

Proposed route Map showing the route taken, August 2015

“At its broadest level the project asks whether HSR can make a discernible difference to the everyday lives of the people it serves”

PHASE ONE | INPUTS Phase One aims to establish what the project objectives are, why the research is important and how the objectives of the project can be best realised.

Establishing the key themes surrounding High-Speed Rail will help contextualise its potential to both deliver its core benefits, alongside other possible benefits as identified in the project introduction.

Interrogating the validity of these benefits constitutes a key project objective.

The importance of these potential benefits is explored throughout the first few sections (1.1 - 1.3) alongside the discussions and debates held at the Project Roundtable (1.6).

The other key strand of Phase One is to set out how key project objectives can be achieved and potentially quantified. A proposed Project timeline (1.4) Project Budget (1.5) and Project criteria (1.7) will endeavour to do this.

1.1 | PROJECT THEMES The project aims to address the following three interdependent themes |

1.1A The level of connectivity to conventional and High Speed Rail Infrastructure (Local)

1.1B Interdependence of rail infrastructure and city regions (Regional)

The ways in which people interact with trains, train stations and the adjacent urban realm is at the heart of the proposal.

The construction of a High Speed Rail (HSR) network here in Britain will alter both the rural and urban landscape, as huge infrastructural investment promises to deliver not only new, but reconfigured stations and urban nodes.

More broadly what are the relationships between rail infrastructure and cities? The emergence of powerful city regions such as the Randstad in Holland, has been largely a result of dense and well integrated transport networks, including HSR, which has made travel between its four principle cities easy and efficient. Similarly, how do existing rail networks in the North of England and the South of France serve to unify neighbouring cities, and in what ways could they act as a stimulus to not only enable individual cities to be more competitive, but increase the competitiveness of the region as a whole?

In light of this it is crucial for designers to understand the relationships between rail infrastructure and urban space as part of a journey, which will not only ensure that users are able to travel from A to B quickly and safely, but can do so both enjoyably and conveniently.

Connectivity on a broader level can be understood as accessibility, or more fundamentally opportunity. How can better access to services translate into increased choice, and therefore greater autonomy in a users day to day life? What amenities are on offer in these shared rail and urban spaces? How could these spaces be designed to anticipate the future needs of users, in situ with developing technologies and lifestyle trends?

Through exploring the range of existing connections along the route, the project aims to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses against project criteria A (1.7, p10). This would allow not only myself, but fellow Young Urbanists (YU) to speculate on how future connections between journeys could be understood, but more importantly well designed.

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

The promise of devolution from London to other parts of the country has again been renewed through George Osborne’s proposed ‘Northern Powerhouse’ initiative. This is one of the key contexts in which HSR has been positioned: for use as a catalyst to ‘heal’ the fractured North/South divide. Is this wishful thinking or can better connectivity really help to disseminate power, skill, jobs and opportunity away from London to redress this inequality?

After arriving in Manchester I then intend to travel on to Liverpool and back, again assessing the connections en route.

Similarly in Marseille I will travel onto Toulon, an important regional city situated approximately the same distance away from Marseille, as Liverpool is to Manchester. Assessing the available travel options alongside the ease and convenience of these onward journeys is important in both, serving as an introduction to how well connected these cities are at present and to begin thinking about the ways in which the future design of services could improve them further. This has been outlined in project criteria B (1.7, p11)

“It is crucial for designers to understand the relationships between rail infrastructure and urban space as part of a journey”

3

1.1C Devolution (National)

The ‘Northern Powerhouse’, an initiative championed by former Chancellor George Osborne

Though it may prove difficult to quantify, this is an important aspect of the project in regards to positioning it in the wider sociopolitical context, and constitutes one of the key threads running throughout the entire series of journeys. Speaking to people along the way, both in the UK and France, will help me to gauge the public perception of HSR and its potential in devolving power between the cities it serves. (Project Criteria C: 1.7, p11)

PROJECT ADVANTAGES

|1.2

This section aims to explain the key advantages of the project and can be understood in relation to section 1.1 (Project Themes) It can again be loosely understood at the following three scales |

1.2A Local

1.2B Regional

1.2C National

The project is about people, how users currently interact with rail infrastructure and urban space and the ways in which existing connections can be understood and developed. Improving user experience alongside raising awareness as to the potential advantages that HSR could bring is crucial to ensuring that both people and places are able to enjoy the benefits.

Again, whilst comprehensive research has been undertaken, the real world practicality of travelling between neighbouring cities is what current and potential users would, I believe, be interested in understanding. The Academy of Urbanism’s (AoU) appraisal of Marseille recognises the city as an ‘urban gateway’, touching upon issues of connectivity within the city but not onward connections surely important in assessing how accessible Marseille is for those wanting to visit the city for business and leisure opportunities.

The dissemination of power amongst prominent French cities, notably Lyon and Marseille, has certainly been aided by the countries HSR network. Journey times of two and three hours from Paris respectively, have not only enabled freer movement between these cities, in turn encouraging leisure and business opportunities, but have signaled within France a real statement of intent for greater devolution of power away from the capital.

At present the dialogue between the public and those in charge of delivering HSR here in the UK has been one of ambiguity.

Having attended and blogged on several HSR consultations - usually held within the enclaves of a policy makers HQ or government building - its clear that although HSR will go ahead, many amongst the public are still unconvinced of the advantages that it could bring.

French rail map with integration of high speed lines

Whilst very good research has been carried out to address this issue, public dissemination is often limited due to the predominantly policy driven or logistical approach which these completed resports have ultimately assumed.

Similarly, other agencies are questioning and envisioning what the future of rail may look like. Both Arup with their ‘Future of Rail: 2050’ report and PriestmanGoode with exciting innovations (e.g. moving platforms) are speculatively addressing user experience; however, I believe there remains a considerable gulf between convincing the general public of these future opportunities, when so much has yet to be done to establish HSR’s immediate benefits.

I propose pitching the project at a much more tangible level; actively engaging with people at all three project phases will help raise awareness as to the real world experience of HSR and urban space. Engaging with YU’s, users on the route and hopefully with a wider audience during Phase Three (Outputs), I believe that the project can at least begin to connect with those users whose opinions may not otherwise be heard.

Moving Platforms: A PriestmanGoode design concept

Onward journeys to Liverpool and Toulon respectively, are at present approximately one hour’s travel time. The first uses a local operator and the other the national operator - is there a discernible difference, and does the nature of these journeys impact upon the wider relationship between the cities that they travel between?

The project strives to learn from the French model, directly comparing user experience with that of the existing UK network.

Undertaking these journeys in such close succession again aims to shift the debate away from policy drivers and quantitative indicators alone. Whilst assessing the national balance in each of the two countries, the ability to read the international narrative may also work to extract additional value from the project.

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

4

1.3 | PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1.3A What are the aims and objectives of the Project?

For myself

- To understand how existing connections work and how future connections could work.

- To understand the relationship between capitals and second cities.

For the Young Urbanists

- To serve as a good introduction to High Speed Rail.

- To begin to think about the interdependence of rail and the built environment.

For the wider public

- To understand the combined HSR and urban experience.

- To understand the potential opportunities that this pairing can bring.

“Engaging people and raising awareness as to the key project themes throughout, will be where much of the reward could potentially be found”

5

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

1.3B How will the goals and objectives of the project be achieved?

Phase One | Inputs The initial phase will be crucial in setting up the parameters of the project, ensuring that the right ideas are being considered and working through the ways in which tangible outcomes could be met. This will include developing the three sets of criteria for the three main project themes at local, regional and national scales. Consultation with both YU’s and Academy members would be beneficial to establish these, whilst advertising for the role of another team member will hopefully raise the profile of the project and interest in the subject area.

1.3C How will the success of the project be measured?

The aforementioned key project themes will be cross-examined against respective criteria which will comprise both qualitative and quantitative indicators. However, these should be open to a degree of development in line with the evolving experience of the project.

On a broader level I believe that engaging people and raising awareness as to the key project themes throughout, will be where much of the reward could potentially be found. Though this may not always work as well as envisaged, as long as the intention and application of this principle is applied, I believe that this could qualify as being successful.

Phase Two | Engagement This is designed to be an intense period of activity and learning providing us with the chance to not only record and test our findings against the set criteria, but to actively develop the criteria in line with our experiences. The journey will also provide us the opportunity to engage with the wider public: canvassing for opinions, understanding daily routines and hopefully begin to allow us to form ideas regarding the relationship between the places we will be passing through.

Phase Three | Outputs Having completed Phase Two, material will need to be brought together in readiness for its dissemination. The process of packaging our findings should be an inclusive process. Tangible outputs in the form of videos and drawings alongside written and spoken word could be promoted in the form of an event.

Additionally, findings could be disseminated through the Academy website and social media, or if possible a mainstream platform designed to reach beyond the core readership.

Project presentations and feedback could be conducted through a YU event

PROJECT TIMELINE JULY WEEK 1

PHASE ONE INPUTS

1.c

2.a 3.a 2.b

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

AUGUST WEEK 4

3.a 1.a 2.a 1.a 1.b 2.c 2.b 3.b 1.b 2.b 2.c 3.c 2.d 1.c 2.c 2.e 3.d 2.e

PHASE TWO

OUTPUTS

PHASE ONE: Key action/ completion Holiday

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

1.a 1.b 1.d

1.a 2.a 1.b 2.b 1.c

PHASE THREE

The following graphic shows a projected project timeline relating to the three phases. I have also outlined the key considerations/ tasks to be addressed at each project stage, as well as critical dates that I believe should be retained where possible.

WEEK 2

SEPTEMBER

1/2/3

ENGAGEMENT

Key:

WEEK 1

|1.4

Research: (1) 1a. Develop Project Criterias (ITC/YU/AOU) 1b. Establish outputs (P3) with YU/AOU 1c. Research cities to be visited (inc. onward connections.)

1d. Finalise Project Criterias Engage: (2) Liaise with: 2a. AOU - Use mailing list/social media to advertise for Project Assistant. Investigate potential contacts in Manchester/Marseille.

2b. YU - Email/tweet for Project Assistant, potential research group and any assistance in either Manchester/Liverpool.

2c. ITC - Investigate potential rail contacts for specialist help for phases.

2d. Thinking City - Feasability of article for P3 2e. The Public - Investigate experiences/expectations of potential user groups to inform Project Criterias (discuss with AOU) Logistics: (3) 3a. Book P2 rail journeys (2nd deadline for Project Assistant) 3b. Arrange London based meetings for Project Assistant 3c. Confirm Project Assistant 3d. Book accomodation for Manchester/Marseille

1.a

2.b

PHASE TWO:

1.a

2.b

1.a 3.a 3.a 1.b 1.b 2.b 1.c 2.c 1.d 2.d 1.e 2.d

3.a 3.b 2.c 3.c 2.d 3.d

PHASE THREE:

Engage: (1) 1a. AOU - Arrange/confirm date for YU event (If event previously agreed in P1), advice as to production of media 1b. YU - Work with research group to co-ordinate production of media Record: (2) -Make drawings/notes, take pictures and videos/ 1c. ITC - Advice on cross referencing findings against project criterias/ advice as to other methods of recording the experience. production of media 1d. Thinking City - Discuss article(s) (If previously Engage: (3) agreed in P1) -Speak to users along the route 1e. Wider audience - Contact users met during -Work with YU’s or AOU/ITC contacts in P2/Publicise YU event Manchester/Liverpool/Marseills/Toulon (if previously arranged) Organise information/ Production of media: (2) -Potentially use YU social media to report 2a. Compile all project media from P2 as necessary ongoing experience of journeys 2b. Work with Project Assistant in production of film 2c. Write article(s) - Discuss with parties as necessary 2d. Drawings/Images - Discuss with parties as necessary Experience: (1) -Undertake 10x rail journeys -Explore spacial qualities of rail infrastructure taking ‘urban lines’ through each connection

Circulation: (3) 3a. Use AOU/YU social media to promote potential event/future workshops/study visits 3b. YU event/workshop for grants schemes to include film, verbal presentation, drawings discussion/debate 3c. Use of YU web page to present film/stills, transcript from event (talk/discussion), 3d. Article to be published (Thinking City/other if agreed)

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

6

ys

1.5 | PROJECT BUDGET

JOURNEY NUMBER

DAY

THURSDAY 6/8

if ail

FRIDAY 7/8

SATURDAY 8/8

SUNDAY 9/8

TIME H/M

COST BREAKDOWN (1 person) (2nd person) (Pre-paid)

1.

LONDON - MANCHESTER

10.00-12.07

£20.00

N/A

-£20.00

2.

MANCHESTER - LIVERPOOL

14.37-15.31

£4.00

N/A

-£4.00

3.

LIVERPOOL - MANCHESTER

18.22-19.09

£5.00

N/A

-£5.00

MANCHESTER

Overnight

£15.00

N/A

-£15.00

4.

MANCHESTER - LONDON

07.35-09.52

£35.00

N/A

-£35.00

5.

LONDON - PARIS

12.01-15.17

6.

PARIS - MARSEILLE

16.15-19.21

£140.00

£140.00

-£140.00

MARSEILLE

Overnight

£25.00

£25.00

7.

MARSEILLE - TOULON

13.35-14.36

£10.00

£10.00

8.

TOULON - MARSEILLE

18.24-19.25

£10.00

£10.00

MARSEILLE

Overnight

£25.00

£25.00

9.

MARSEILLE - PARIS

14.06-17.30

10.

PARIS - LONDON

19.13-20.39

£92.00

£92.00

-£92.00

£381.00

£302.00

-£311.00

e

y

JOURNEYS

In order to run the project in line with the projected phases I would require the full amount of £400, with additional costs incurred to be met be myself.

As the table shows the money will be used for fundamental aspects specifically related to Phase Two of the project, including rail journeys and accomodation. A considerable part of the travel costs will be pre-paid by myself to ensure that grant money could be used to bring a second team member.

For the selected YU member I envisage an outlay based on three days of living expenses. Aside from this I do not envisage Phases Two and Three to incur much additonal cost if the Academy/YU’s are willing to lend support (i.e. facilities/time of its members) to enable certain tasks to be completed.

N/A SUB TOTALS

10 x Journeys

GRAND TOTAL

£683.00

Table showing projected budget (all costs accurate at time of writing)

7

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

-£311.00

£372.00

PROJECT ROUNDTABLE

|1.6

One of the key aims of the project is to engage with not only members of the public, but professionals working in disciplines who may have an interest or specific experience in the themes being addressed.

Connectivity |

Assembling a project roundtable therefore gave the project team an opportunity to gain valuable insights into gauging how others interpreted the validity of the proposal, along with its various strengths and weaknesses.

“...I think that connectivity is closely linked to accessibility which could mean opportunity, and opportunity obviously means choice...”

An agenda was sent out before hand which set out the key themes to be discussed, namely: Connectivity, Rail infrastructure/ city regions, and Second cities and devolution.

A key aim of the roundtable was to use the results to help develop the initial project criteria (Phase One, 1.7) which was based directly on the three areas set out for discussion. The project criteria were to be used as a primary point of reference throughout Phase Two of the project enabling similar aspects of the trip (e.g. railway stations) to be directly compared and contrasted.

The roundtable produced some lively discussion and debate, the full transcript of which can be found in the project appendices (4.0, p35). The key observations which were made in relation to each of the three sections are as follows.

Roundtable held at the Academys offices, July 2015

Connectivity, accessibility and choice

Second Cities: Roundtable Wednesday 29 July 2015 18.30-20.30 Front Basement Meeting Room, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ Facilitators: Charlie Critchell, Bright Pryde-Saha

“...Accessibility is actually an open group of people that say yes to each other, rather than always saying no to each other, it has to be taken beyond the literal to the more abstract...”

Roundtable Objectives:

Connectivity and environment

¥

“To me connectivity is a sort of legibility, what you can see and rail To discuss the existing level of connectivity to conventional and High-speed how you can read the landscape around you...” infrastructure in both the UK and Europe

“I see the best practice examples as being stations regarded as To speculate on the interdependence of rail infrastructure and city regions alongside the role of rail in devolving power between a countries capital and second partcity of the inside functions of the city, rather than a piece of infrastructure on their own...” ¥ To develop project criteria related to the three key project themes “...In Rotterdam the station is amazing and they call it the ‘city’s living room’, they actually hold festivals and concerts in the Attendees station that divides the city in two...” ¥

Charlie Critchell Julie Plichon Michael Bredin Nicholas Francis Nicholas Goddard Lewis Hubbard John Mason Laura Mazzeo Claudia Peñaranda Bright Pryde-Saha Kieran Toms Atilla Vredenburg Camilla Ween AoU John Worthington AoU

Project Lead Project Assistant Alan Baxter Limited Space Syntax

The Bartlett, UCL Peter Brett Associates Farrells Transport for London The Academy of Urbanism London Borough of Hounslow RTKL Goldstein Ween Associates Independent Transport Commission

Connectivity and integration of other transport modes

“...the importance of changing modes...connectivity is also from a train station to a city center, train station to the airport...”

“At TFL we used to talk about interchange penalties, if its very hard to get from one infrastructure or mode to the other we would calculate this interchange penalty...you can see specifically how it is between rail, to tube, to bus, those connections are amazing in France, in a lot of places in London its not so good...” “...Here we talk about connectivity but its actually about timetable coordination, which in a lot of European cities is really good... this is very important to get the maximum efficiency from the network...”

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

8

1.6 | PROJECT ROUNDTABLE The interdependence between rail infrastructure and city regions | Understanding city regions

“...[City regions] as a policy model are seen as the most efficient scale where you can have functional geographies, where you can travel around and work and which share a similar housing market, but its still very difficult to define...” “...Liverpool has a difficult relationship with the city region idea.. the Greater Liverpool area for instance could not even agree on a name, it reflects the problems of identity that city regions can have...” “...Manchester is a real city region, Greater Manchester is taking eight towns and two cities basically...they are able to take control of their transport, housing etc and they use their tram system as an advert, they want to use it to bring growth.”

“...I think Lille is an interesting city...it used to be a provincial city and now its connected to Brussels and London and Paris, the nexus of these railway lines, it seems to capitalise successfully on that as well as terms of self belief and change”.

The correlation between rail and power

“...If you actually map Europe, the transport networks, you can map the most important cities and how they were connected, its probably reflects the political structures of the countries during that era... “...I think in the UK the network is very asymmetric reflecting the power of different cities with all lines going to London...”

“The complete flipside of that is when you go to Holland, where they said...we’ll build the rail, the tram, build the infrastructure first and let this flourish - so thats a totally different approach where the rail has been the catalyst for a new city...”

On using HSR positively

“...In Manchester they have considered how to use HSR to rebrand themselves, skyscrapers etc...whereas Nottingham and Leeds are kind of waiting for the government to tell them what to do, Manchester is certainly the best example of what HSR means to them...”

Local priorities

“...Sheffields competing to be a region that can internationally compete with London, none of these cities really cares about the connection to London, but the connection to the continent and other British cities...” “...Manchester and Leeds really want to develop local connections before anything else - they are 40 miles away but it takes an hour to get to the other city...”

The devolution of power between a countries capital and second city | How do you measure a second city?

“...You can talk about second cities in quantitative measures, but in terms of more cultural outputs and brand awareness you can certainly make the case for Manchester and Marseille...

Birmingham and Lyon are more business centres”

9

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

Transcript and initial proposal

How do second cities relate to their respective capitals?

“...You have to understand that a city like Manchester operates on a totally different level to London, theres no point comparing them on that scale - they just do totally different things.” “...Manchester has the power to galvanise the North. If London can say ‘we are the South or South East’ Manchester can say ‘we are the Northern people’ and actually create an identity around that...”

Devolution vs deconcentration in France “...There is decentralisation (devolution) and deconcentration.

Deconcentration is when the central state has delegates on the territory, the central state is geographically closer to territories.

Decentralisation is like devolution - you transfer power to an elected local authority”.

“...Liverpool has a difficult relationship with the city region idea..the Greater Liverpool area for instance could not even agree on a name, it reflects the problems of identity that city regions can have...”

PROJECT CRITERIA

11.2

Project Criterias

|1.7

Project Criteria A:

Project Criteria A | The level of connectivity to conventional and High-Speed Rail The level of (Local connectivity toscale) conventional and HSR Infrastructure (Local - urban scale) Infrastructure - I.e. urban

I have outlined the three Project Criterias in respect of the three key themes and scales. I believe both, five quantitative and five qualitative indicators should provide a robust framework by which to test these themes.

An important part of project Phase One is to actively develop these criterias through direct I have outlined the three project criteria in engagement with YU/ITC/AOU members. respect of the three key themes and scales.

I believe five quantitative and five qualitative indicators should provide a robust initial framework by which to test these themes.

Feedback from the project roundtable has been additionally built into these criteria, which I will look to further develop during both Phases Two and Three.

Quantitative Indicators

Qualitative Indicators

1.

Connection parameters: -Is the connection within the same station/immediate urban realm?

-How many actions in the connection? (e.g.platform/stairs/concourse/taxi rank)

Rail Infrastructure: -Is the rail infrastructure of a good quality?

-Layout /accessibility/safety -Does it work? (individual components lifts/barriers etc.) as a whole - an experience?

2.

Connection time: -How long does the journey between connections take?

-Direct (without stopping) -Indirect (take averages based on routes)

Assistance: -Is assistance accessible to rail users? (real time information - what form does this take? boards/users phone etc.)

-Visibility/availability of staff

3.

Physical accessibility: -How many ticket points do you pass through (automated/attended)?

-Number of level changes - are these manual (stairs) assisted (escalator/lift)?

Amenities: -What are the facilities/amenities?

-Do these provide good provision for leisure, work and wellbeing? e.g. medical centres/ pop-up shops’s etc.)

Modes of transport: How many modes of transport do you take/could you take to make the connection?

Amenity accessibility: -How accessible are these services: location, availability, speed/quality of service?

-What are the Indicative price points?

4.

5.

Potential: What is the potential for future services or station amenities?

-Where could these be positioned: both, physically and commercially?

Project Criteria A

Quantitative Indicators

1.

Qualitative Indicators

Quantity: -How many hourly services run between these regional destinations?

Rail infrastructure: -Is the rail infrastructure of a good quality?

(See project criteria A.1) Is there a discernible difference between rail infrastructure at major and regional stations?

Onboard amenities: -What services are available on these

Train operators: -If different train operators are used what

Quantitative Indicators

Qualitative Indicators

Users: -Who is using these services - why?

-What are the advantages/disadvan 10 is the single most important SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE -What for users regarding their use of the Users: -How regularly do users take the service?

1.

Quantity:

Flexibility:

manual (stairs) assisted (escalator/lift)? centres/ pop-up centres/ pop-up shops’s etc.) manual (stairs) assisted (escalator/lift)? shops’s etc.) manual (stairs) assisted (escalator/lift)? centres/ pop-up centres/ pop-up shops’s etc.) manual (stairs) assisted (escalator/lift)? shops’s etc.)

4.

1.7 | PROJECT CRITERIA 5.

Amenity accessibility: Amenity accessibility: Modes of transport: Modes of transport: Amenity accessibility: Amenityare accessibility: Modes of transport: -How accessible -How accessible these services: Modes of transport: are these services: How many modes of transport do you How many modes of transport do you -How accessible are these services: -How accessible are theseofservices: How many modes of transport do you location, availability, speed/quality How many modes of transport do you location, availability, speed/quality of availability, 4. take to make the take/couldtake/could you take toyou make the location, speed/quality of location, availability, speed/quality of 4. take/could you take to make the 4. connection? take/could you take to make theservice? service? connection? service? service? connection? are the price Indicative price points? connection?

-What are -What the Indicative points? are the price Indicative price points?

-What are -What the Indicative points?

5.

5.

5.

Project Project Criteria B: Criteria B:

Potential: Potential: Potential: Potential: is the potential for future services or What is theWhat potential for future services What is theorpotential for future services or What is the station amenities? potential for future services or station amenities? station amenities? stationthese amenities?

-Where could be positioned: both, -Where could these be positioned: both, -Where could these be positioned: both, -Where could these be positioned: both, physically and commercially? physically and commercially? physically and commercially? physically and commercially?

Project Criteria B |

The Interdependence of rail infrastructure and city regions The Interdependence of rail infrastructure and city regions (Regional: stations and journeys) (Regional: stations and journeys) The Interdependence of rail infrastructure and city regions (Regional - Stations and journeys)

2.

3.

4.

5.

Rail infrastructure: Rail infrastructure: Rail infrastructure: infrastructure: -Is the railRail infrastructure of a good quality?

-Is the rail infrastructure of a good quality?

-Is the rail infrastructure of a good quality?

Quantity: Quantity: -Is the rail infrastructure of a good quality?

Quantity: (See project criteria A.1) Quantity: (See project criteria A.1) -How many hourly services run between (See project criteria A.1) -How many hourly services run between 1. project criteria A.1)between -How many hourly run between Is there a(See discernible difference -How many hourly services runservices between Is there a discernible differenceIs between regional destinations?

1. there a discernible difference between these regional destinations?

1. these Is there aatdiscernible difference these regional destinations? rail infrastructure major and regional between these regional destinations? rail infrastructure at major andrail regional infrastructure at major and regional rail infrastructure at major and regional stations? stations? stations? stations?

Train operators: Onboard amenities: Onboard amenities: Train operators: Onboard amenities: Train operators: Train operators: Onboard amenities: -If different train operators are used what -What areonavailable on these -If different train operators are used what -What services areservices available these services -If different train are operators are used what -What are available on these -If differentdifferences? train operators used what -What services are available on these are the discernible regional trips (food trolley/wifi etc.) and are the discernible differences?are the discernible differences?

2. regional trips (food trolley/wifi regional etc.) andtrips (food trolley/wifi etc.) and are the discernible differences?

2. regional trips (food trolley/wifi etc.) and -Doesthe thisquality affect the quality of the whole the two regional trips 2& 7)-Does this affect of -Does the whole how do2.thehow twodo regional trips (no.sdo 2& 7)(no.s thisquality affect the quality of the whole the two regional trips 2& 7)as -Does this affect the of the whole do thehow two regional trips (no.s 2& 7)as(no.s journey a whole? comparehow (availablity/price point etc.)? journey a whole? compare (availablity/price point etc.)? journey as a whole? compare (availablity/price point etc.)? journey as a whole? compare (availablity/price point etc.)?

Onward connections: Reliability Onward connections: Onward connections:Reliability of service: of service:Reliability of service: Onward connections: -What are the onward connections?

Reliability ofservice service:- speak to -How reliable is the -What are the onward connections?

-How reliable is the service - speak toreliable is the service - speak to -What are the onward connections?

-How -What arefrom the onward connections?

-How far are they the station -How reliable isthey the think service - speak to 3. regular users how do this -How far are they from the station regular users - how do they think this users -How far arethe theystation from the station 3. regular - how do this they think this -How far are they from 3. concourse? regular users - how do they think could be improved? concourse? could be improved? could be improved? concourse?concourse? could be improved?

4.

5.

4.

5.

4.

Sense of place: Sense of place: Sense of place: Sense place: does theof station/urban realm -How does-How the station/urban realm -How does the station/urban realm -How does the station/urban realm a sense of place? establish a establish sense of place? establish a sense of place? establish a senseinteraction of place?

-Primary: Localinteraction services/ -Primary: Local services/ -Primary: Localinteraction services/ interaction -Primary: Local services/ -Secondary: Media/advertisment -Secondary: Media/advertisment -Secondary: Media/advertisment -Secondary: Media/advertisment

5.

Quality of onward connections: Quality of onward connections: Quality of onward connections: Quality of connections: -How are accessible areonward these onward -How accessible these onward -How accessible are these onward -How accessible are these onward connections? connections? connections? connections?

-Are they clearly are they regular -Are they clearly marked, aremarked, they -Areregular they clearly marked, are they regular -Are they clearly marked, are they regular and are they integrated? (train/bus tickets) and are they integrated? (train/bus tickets) and are they integrated? (train/bus tickets) and are they integrated? (train/bus tickets)

Project Criteria B Project Criteria B

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SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

11.2 Criterias: Project Project Criterias:

Project Criteria C |

Devolution Devolution (National/International: stations and journeys) Devolution (National/International stations and journeys) (National/International: stations and journeys)

Quantitative Qualitative Quantitative IndicatorsIndicators Qualitative IndicatorsIndicators Quantitative Qualitative Indicators Quantitative IndicatorsIndicators Qualitative Indicators

1.

11.2

ProjectC:Criteria C: Project Criteria

Quantitative Indicators Qualitative Indicators Quantitative Indicators Qualitative Indicators Quantitative Indicators Qualitative Indicators Quantitative Indicators Qualitative Indicators

1.

Users: Users: Users: Users: Users: Users:theseUsers: Users: do users -Whothese is using services - why?

-How regularly take the service?

-Who is using services --Who why?

-How regularly do users take -How the service? is using these- why? services - why? regularly do users take the service?

-Who is using these services -How regularly do users take the service?

-What are the advantages/disadvantages?

-What are the advantages/disadvantages?

1.

-What are the advantages/disadvantages?

-What aremost the advantages/disadvantages?

1.

-What is the single important issue 1.

-What is the single most important issue -What is the single most important issue -What is the single most for users regarding their use of theimportant service? issue for users regarding their use of the service? for users regarding their use of the for users regarding their use of the service? service?

2.

Quantity: Quantity: Flexibility: Flexibility: Flexibility: Quantity: Flexibility: Quantity: -Whatare options are to available toatthe user at -How many operators run these between these -How many operators run between -What options available the user -What options are to available -How many operators run between these -What options are available the usertoatthe user at -How many operators run between theseevery stage of the process: booking, destinations?

2.destinations? every stage of the process: booking, every stage of thebooking, process: booking, destinations?

2. every stage of the process: destinations? journey and departure? many hourly services run between boarding, boarding, 2. How How many hourly services run between journey and departure? boarding, journey and departure?

How many hourlyrun services run between journey and departure?

How many hourly services between -How match do boarding, these match user expectations? these destinations? these destinations?

-How do these user expectations?

-How do these match user expectations? these destinations?

-How do these match user expectations? these destinations?

3.

3.

4.

4.

5.

5.

3.

3.

4.

4.

5.

5.

Project Criteria C Project Criteria C

Expectation: Expectation: Expectation: Expectation: future customer expectations?

-What are-What futureare customer expectations?

-What are future customer expectations?

-What are futuredesign/policy customer expectations?

-Are users aware of new -Are users aware of new design/policy -Are users aware of new design/policy -Are users aware of new design/policy measures which aim to improve measures which aim to improve measures aim to improve measures which aimwhich to improve experience? passengerpassenger experience? experience? passengerpassenger experience?

Sense of Occasion: Sense of Occasion: Sense of Occasion: Sense ofand/or Occasion: design level of service -Does the -Does designthe and/or level of service -Does the design and/or level of service -Does thetone design and/or level of service impart the correct for the journey? impart the correct tone for the journey? impart the correct tone for the journey? impart the correct tone for the journey?

(Business/leisure etc.)

(Business/leisure etc.)

(Business/leisure etc.)

(Business/leisure etc.)

-Is this line with user expectations?

-Is this in line withinuser expectations?

-Is this in line with user expectations?

-Is this in line with user expectations?

The future:The future: future: future:The the doThe users relationship -What do -What users believe thebelieve relationship -What do users believe the relationship -What do users believe the relationship between different cities/city regions and between different cities/city regions and between different cities/city regions and between different cities/city regions and areas of the to present? be like at present? areas of the country tocountry be likeareas at of the country to be like at present? areas ofthat the rail country to an be agent like at present?

-Do they believe can be -Do they believe that rail can be an agent -Do they believe that rail can be an agent -Do they believe that rail can be an agent to influence/change this? to influence/change this? to influence/change this? to influence/change this?

PHASE TWO | ENGAGEMENT Phase Two marks the ‘Engagement’ stage of the project. Making ten journeys at regional, national and international scales would take me from London to Manchester and Liverpool then - with a colleague onto Paris, Marseille and Toulon over the course of a four day period.

Undertaking these journeys consecutively of one another, would ideally provide me with a snapshot of not only rail travel between these cities but the ways in which ancillary infrastructure (stations, public spaces, modes of transport etc.) work together to serve the user.

The following section has been arranged to show the journey in chronological order. Subheadings punctuated with images pick up upon the key observations at each stage, whilst a drawn sequential section for each station aims to demonstrate the quality of the spaces which we travelled through.

A key with coloured icons shows the levels of access, information and amenity available to users at each station. I felt this was important in highlighting how stations have been configured to accomodate not only the fundamental needs of rail users, but to further enhance the quality of everyday life for anyone using the station more casually.

Finally key moments have been shown, these are instances which I believe to be especially important in contributing to the experience of that particular place or journey, instances which I will look to expand upon in project Phase Three.

2.1 | MANCHESTER Other welcome features include the glass partition dividing the concourse from the platforms along with the employment of passenger assistants as opposed to automated services, making it easier to gain information about onward travel as well as providing a more prominent sense of arrival.

Journey 1 | Thursday 6/8/15 | Arriving in Manchester at midday I was met by two locals; Joe Ravetz a senior lecturer and Gabi Schliwa a PhD student at Manchester University’s School of Environment. Discussing a number of issues within Piccadilly Station itself, both were quick to praise the unique character of Manchester and certain civic qualities, which in their view make it not only comparable but unique to the capital:

The position of local (regional) platforms at the far end of the station (accessible via moving walkways) lends the feeling that the whole of the station is being put to use, with ‘dead’ space kept to a minimum - though the facilities on the platform itself are minimal.

“Far from being a second city behind London we really believe that Manchester operates in a completely separate sphere. It’s not about North and South but Manchester as a place and a city in it’s own right.”

Furthermore both identified spending cuts, lack of accountability and “blame game” tactics as contributing to the poor state of the North’s much maligned rail network: “Yes, HS2 could work to increase opportunities for Northern Cities,” Ravetz told me. “But there remains a stronger need to make the north work as a cohesive entity first.”

Wayfinding/Legibility| The immediate vicinity of the station is poorly designed and confusing. The main entrance/exit leading onto Station Approach feels fragmented with ill-defined spaces further emphasised by the low quality urban realm.

The setback of the main entrance along with the mundane use of material and texture does little to suggest a sense of arrival or departure from an important city. Likewise the poor wayfinding information available to users, including ambiguous signage and local maps make quick orientation difficult.

Owing to its significance as a major piece of infrastructure it’s unsurprising that the station is ringed by arterial roads which again contributes to poor permeability in regards to pedestrian movement between the station and town center. Furthermore, the positioning of tram tunnels in and out of the station directly adjacent to pavements presents unnecessary danger to pedestrians down at street level.

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Proposed Station | Design and Layout |

Two examples of poor design underneath and adjacent to Piccadilly Station

Shared Surface| Unlike the urban realm adjacent to the station, the use of shared surface in the city centre itself makes for a rich and varied urban experience. Here trams compete with pedestrians and cyclists, though owing to increased space and therefore greater visibility the arrangement appears to work - if at times appearing a little chaotic.

The successful integration of tram stops within this dense urban fabric has been widely acclaimed and is something Mancunians are rightly proud of. A frequent and well maintained service with distinct and legible infrastructure, however, highlights the tired built environment. The fundamentals of a thriving urban centre appear to be in place, though investment in the form of a material facelift would work to improve the experience of using these city centre spaces appreciably.

Existing Station | Design and Layout | The existing station itself is well designed. Unlike other comparable stations which concentrate amenities (and therefore users) in a compact single level space, Piccadilly employs a circulatory layout arranged over two floors. This simple arrangement helps to aid the flow of users whilst creating an identifiable ‘high-street’ of shops and facilities, clearly signed with a range of public amentities including ample seating.

Having read Bennetts Associates Regeneration Framework Report prior to my arrival at Piccadilly, I was keen to have a look around the site of their proposed HS2 terminal. Upon inspection I agree that many of the strategic moves that the report had prioritised seemed feasible given the potential of the site, whilst the basis of the strategic moves themselves resonated with many of the findings I subsequently went on to identify.

The need for a reconfigured station which imparts a sense of occasion upon arrival into Manchester, whilst actively engaging with the city before it (unlike the current station) are certainly necessary design objectives. So too is the need to establish a hierarchy among new interconnected public spaces which aims to intelligently prompt the public as to how the station and its environs can be best used and enjoyed.

Picadilly’s existing main entrance and proposed location of the new HS2 terminal

Having walked the site I certainly feel optimistic for the future of Piccadilly - provided that (as stated elsewhere in the proposals) the masterplan can not only engage sensitively with the surrounding built fabric but can facilitate improved local transport links to ensure that the benefits of this exciting development are felt across the whole of the city.

MANCHESTER

|2.1

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

14

2.2 | LIVERPOOL Journey’s 2&3 | Thursday 6/8/15 | The journey to Liverpool had been made on a diesel Transpennine Express Service and had taken a little under an hour. Though the journey was made during peak hours there were only a few people standing and the frequency of trains seemed no worse than comparable inter-city services in and out of London. A regular user of the service (travelling between Liverpool and Newcastle twice weekly for college) explained that the trains often ran frustratingly slowly in the mornings made worse by consistent overcrowding. When asked about the price of the fair she believed that using her concessionary rate as a student made the journey affordable - though questioned the value for money a full price fare would offer.

Landmark | Alighting at Liverpool Lime Street Station imparted a much grander sense of arrival than I had experienced in Manchester.

The stone steps and public plaza immediately in front of the station offers a superb high level panoramic of the immediate urban realm including St Georges Hall, St Johns media wall and Radio City Tower just behind. The pronounced sweep of Lime Street itself makes it relatively straight forward to orientate yourself particularly given the presence of highly legible wayfinding boards similar to those found in London.

The stations west facing orientation makes this public plaza an attractive space in which to linger, whilst the imposing station facade behind signals a local landmark and natural meeting place for residents and visitors alike.

Cohesive Public Network | Local authorities used the status of the 2008 European Capital of Culture award as an incentive to make smart investments in the cities key assets and infrastructure. One example of this is the extensive Liverpool One redevelopment, which provides an intuitive sequence of high quality public spaces leading to the city’s historic waterfront. Other standout attractions nearby include the ‘Beatles Story’ permanent memorabilia exhibition, The Tate Liverpool, Echo Wheel and the 11,000 seater Echo Arena.

As important as this high-profile redevelopment is, so too is the investment in Liverpools local transport network. The development of an extensive and highly legible bus and underground system complement the distinctive character of the city, visually uniting much of the city centre.

Like the Metro system in Manchester the use of yellow livery makes bus stops and Metro stations easy to identify, whilst the use of clean and simple signage and materials give the impression of a well thought through and maintained public network.

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Leaving Manchester Piccadilly early on Friday morning the journey back to London took an additional forty minutes owing to disruption on the track ahead. Though the Virgin Pendolino’s that are used for cross country runs are rated as High Speed trains, they are still considerably slower in comparison to Spanish, German and French operators - owing to the existing classic rail infrastructure. This is something I discussed with a retired Mancunian couple travelling to London for a day visit: (of HSR) “It’s old technology, it runs on something thats already been created...we need something that’s fit for purpose for the 21st century...”

Their contention that HSR is in fact old technology sat with their belief that devolving the issue of next generation rail travel to the north as an engineering problem would serve to provide the region with a sense of genuine ownership over its future – and subsequently work to rebalance the disparity of power between North and South.

“I’d prefer it if you get the university’s to sink their teeth into it...get the designers and innovators to actually do some work on it and come up with a solution...The North’s got to harness the culture of the North...we’ve got to pull our thumb out and sink our money where it ought to go.”

A common design aesthetic makes for an integrated feel between bus and rail

Lime Street Station’s adjacent public square

Journey 4 | Friday 7/8/15

“Local authorities used the status of the 2008 European Capital of Culture award as an incentive to make smart investments in the cities key assets and infrastructure”

The couple seemed doubtful that thinking along these lines would ever be seriously considered, owing to the considerable risk politicians and policy makers would incur if they were to move away from safe tried and tested options: “They’re scared of the money...the politicians that is are scared of telling the voters that we’re thinking of new modes of transport, but we don’t really know what we’re doing”

When asked what they considered to be the best use of HS2 funding both believed that improving local connections would definitely be of far greater benefit to the majority of regular rail users: “It runs from A to B very very fast, but I want to go to Z, So when I get to B I’ve got to get on a bus or taxi thats going to get delayed in lots of traffic - so I cant get to the place I really want to go - its also the connections which are a real killer”

LIVERPOOL

|2.2

SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

16

2.3 | LONDON Euston Station | Arriving back into London I then met with my colleague to make the short journey between Euston and nearby St. Pancras to catch the Eurostar service which would take us to Paris.

Though it was London’s first intercity railway station, Euston’s recent past and imminent future appear to be defined by controversy. The need to expand Euston’s capacity in the early 1960’s led to the demolition of the original station and distinct Euston Arch, which was replaced with the International Style design which stands today.

In contrast the proposal for the revamped station features an undulating roof capped with an arch-like canopy to its main entrance: the design intent being to create a series of grand civic spaces. Though the proposals are very much in the vein of the striking vaulted spaces in nearby St. Pancras and Kings Cross, the need to not only redevelop the station but bring HS2 so far into London has met stiff resistance.

Aside from an ongoing dispute between developers and Camden Council, recently elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan has voiced his own concerns calling for redevelopment to be put on hold until less disruptive alternatives can be found.

Though it was envisaged to symbolise the advent of the ‘Electric Age’ the new station immediately met with widespread resistance with the stations modest and unremarkable form being a distinct departure from the traditional glazed trainsheds of the 19th century.

Interchange | Euston Station - St. Pancras Station |

Alighting onto one of Eustons long, low platforms, steep ramps then lead onto the main station concourse. Though lacking the presence of the glazed vaulted spaces found in both St. Pancras and Gare du Nord the ticket hall has a certain quality which if not immediately striking becomes more palatable upon closer inspection.

Firstly, in regards to the onward connection it had originally been planned that High Speed 1 (HS1) operating out of St. Pancras and the proposed HS2 line beginning at Euston would be linked via a seamless interchange for those wishing for direct travel between Northern England and the Continent - and vice versa.

The coffered slab ceiling which is supported on only a handful of slender terrazzo-clad steel columns exudes a certain gravitas.

This combined with the high-level ribbon windows and low lighting is vaguely reminiscent of New York’s much vaunted Grand Central, though is admittedly nowhere near as dramatic.

Again, like Grand Central, the division between concourse and platforms is noticeable and arguably detracts from the legibility of the journey as a whole.

The main entrance, through which we departed, feels like another compromise with a busy public square being effectively hemmed in between the main facade to the north and Euston Gardens to the south. Navigating through this space for onward connections on the Euston Road is essentially devoid of any demaracation between station and street.

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Aside from the the redevelopment of Euston station itself, another bone of contention is the proposed link between Euston Station (High Speed 2) and nearby St. Pancras (High Speed 1).

This was then scrapped due to the prohibitive cost of the single track link - estimated to be in the region of £700 million. The revised plans are as yet unconfirmed but several options have been put forward.

At the time of our trip the options available to us were a one stop tube journey on the Victoria Line, a bus/taxi between the stations or to walk the 400 odd meters along the Euston Road which connects the two - a journey which took us a little over eleven minutes, albeit with hand luggage only.

Regardless of whether a dedicated pedestrian link is built there are many ways which this existing route could be improved.

Firstly commuters need to cross six separate roads on the journey between the two stations. Dedicated zebra crossings to ensure improved safety whilst alleviating pedestrian congestion (though adversely at the expense of traffic congestion) could be looked into.

View of Euston’s main concourse and St Pancras refurbished trainshed roof

In addition to this the pavement alternates severely in width creating pinch points which, paired with bus stops, can make progress slow.

Finally, despite the route being straightforward, we could only find one road sign (aside from outside St. Pancras itself) which informs users about the direction to travel to reach their destination - an area which should in any case be addressed.

St. Pancras Station | Whilst Euston is a recognised gateway to the Midlands and North via the West Coast Mainline, St. Pancras and HS1 similarly serve to link the capital to the Continent. Following its £800m redevelopment and 2007 reopening the station is rightly acknowledged to be a world class facility; deftly synthesisising old and new to great effect.

Following our walk from Euston, St. Pancras and its environs (including the ongoing Kings Cross redevelopment) feel distinctly different: there is a cohesiveness at play with an intuitive sequence of amentity lined public spaces which effectively work as an independent slice of city. So too does the inside of the station, with zoning delienating distinct programmatic spaces: Rendezvous, Circle, Arcade and Market.

In its role as the capitals only international station (and a major domestic station) it has arguably enjoyed both the funding and heightened profile which many smaller stations will never receive.

Whilst it is not as easy as simply exporting the principles of St. Pancras elsewhere, facilities at the station are indicative of the quality which users should come to expect of all future principle stations, albeit harnessed in a way that responds to both the local conditions and needs of its users.

2.4 | PARIS A useful wayfinding tool was the real-time journey display found in all carriages. A simple set of LED’s showed which route the train would take with the lights extinguishing once a station had been passed.

Journey 5 | Friday 7/8/15 | Having boarded the Eurostar at St. Pancras we were soon headed to Dover and the Channel Tunnel Rail-link via High Speed 1 (HS1); currently the UKs only High Speed line.

Despite the introduction of new Eurostar rolling stock in November 2015, the majority remain original mid 1990’s carriages, which though refurbished in 2004/5 are understandably showing signs of age. This, coupled with the narrow cabin widths and limited luggage space, make for a cosy journey. In spite of this we found that when faced with the option of taking a low cost airline many passengers much prefer the flexibility that the Eurostar provides, along with the added benefit of running from city centre to city centre.

One such passenger, a middle aged lady from London, was travelling onto Nice to visit family, a trip she takes bi-monthly.

She told us that she prefers the train both because of her aversion to flying, but also the greater flexibility and comfort it provides.

Questioned on her views about whether HSR could help devolve power away from a city’s capital, she told me that she believed it could – but only if that process was carefully regulated.

“For me, London is and will always be the UK’s main city, and I really believe it is important that it continues to receive preference over the others.”

This view isn’t uncommon in the South of England, where some feel more closely aligned with their European counterparts than they do with their fellow compatriots just a couple of hours North. I wondered if those in France felt the same way, given the country’s better connectivity and the decentralisation of power that the TGV had allegedly brought.

Gare Du Nord | Another key point the passenger we had spoken to picked up on was the stark contrast between St. Pancras and Gare Du Nord.

Whilst St. Pancras is almost universely considered a success, she - and others we had spoken to - believed Gare du Nord to be overcrowed, dirty and potentially unsafe.

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SECOND CITIES | MANCHESTER TO MARSEILLE

View of Gare du Nord’s main concourse and multilevel ticket hall

The single level concourse of Gare Du Nord leads to both domestic and international services (TGV, Thalys, Eurostar) whose platforms sit alongside one another - effectively concentrating both short and long haul passengers in a wide yet shallow concourse, the only concession being the dedicated Eurostar balcony for UK-bound services.

In addition to this is the use of dual announcements upon approaching a new station. Both repeat the station name but in different spoken tones: The first in a regular conversational tone, the second – a few seconds later – in a lower more affirmitive one. As my colleague explained the variation was proven to help rouse passengers who may have dozed off on a long ride – particularly important with both early morning and late night commuters.

Despite long-suffering problems with overcrowding and access, wayfinding in the station is made easy by large simple signage suspended high above the concourse, which made locating the RER, our means of travel to Gare de Lyon, fairly straightforward.

To address some of these space problems SNCF constructed a glass fronted extension to the station to both alleviate overcrowding - and provide dedicated access to the Metro and RER lines alongside additional shops and passenger facilities. We both felt that this multi-layered, cross programmatic space works really well, imparting a sense of dynamism as you move through it, though to others it may read as a little too busy and stressful.

Though criticised in relation to St. Pancras, in some ways I believe it feels less sterile - a more organic series of spaces despite ongoing overcrowding issues.

Gare Du Nord to Gare de Lyon | We took the RER (Réseau Express Régional) or Regional Express Service to make our connection between Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon from where we would catch the Marseille bound TGV. The carriages of this rapid transit service sport a double deck design as with many continental inter-city rail services. As well as providing additional capacity the interiors are clean and well laid out – if lacking the character of London’s tube lines and carriages.

Tickets | The lack of ticket barriers across the overground network is another interesting departure from UK rail infrastructure. Instead customers are expected to stamp their tickets for validation prior to boarding the train.

TGV tickets themselves resemble flight tickets in size and shape.

Whilst I did not manage to determine their convenience for regular users, we found their substantial size to offer reassurance and infer a degree of occasion for our national journey.

The future of ticketing looks certain to become digitalised, with the onset of contactless cards, smart watches and other hybrid devices. We wondered would this fundamental shift away from paper tickets maintain the sense of occasion for users of an exciting High-speed network? And more importantly would it then work equally to the benefit of all users?

2.5 | MARSEILLE Journey 6 | Friday 7/8/15|

Permeability and Legibility |

The first thing that strikes you about the the Paris-Marseille train is the room afforded by its double deck design. The carriage’s public areas – usually considered a mere afterthought – are commodious, with not only the ubiquitous luggage rack but small banquet style sofas and generous staircases upon which some passengers happily while away the hours chatting or reading.

Aside from being unimaginative and disconnected internally, the extension fails to engage with the plentiful external space on offer as the vast stone facade orientated west towards the city offers nothing in the way of permeability. The extensions shops and cafes - rather than simply backing onto this glass facade from within - could effectively double their capacity and entice passengers away from the main concourse provided station infrastructure (departure boards/seating etc.) followed suit, as in the case in with the successful outdoor space at the nearby Gare de Toulon.

The bar carriage is a noticeable improvement from not only UK trains, but also the Eurostar. Here we met a young professional travelling from Paris to Cannes for the weekend who helped to shed more light on the appeal of the French TGV network. For him, the major benefit of the train is the opportunity it gives him to escape the city and be in the south of France in just over 3 hours. The regularity of the service is another big plus for passengers, justifying their belief that the TGV is designed to work around them.

The Grand Staircase acts as a gateway to the city below

One note of contention, however, is the incremental price rises which are hitting customers who use these services on a regular basis. Despite this, the consensus among most passengers was that travelling via TGV was the only way of making the trip south.

Here, as in Liverpool, locals and passengers will meet and converse whilst taking in far reaching views along the arterial Boulevard d’ Athenes below. Transitory urban spaces such as this provide a focal point to city life, and situated between the station and the street it becomes a threshold between the familiar and the unknown - confirmed by both happy reunions and sad departures.

Arrival in Marseille |

Station concourse |

Similar to alighting in Liverpool the day before, there was a real sense of arrival when leaving the TGV in Marseilles’s Gare Saint Charles station. The stone terrace outside the main entrance commands an impressive panoramic over the city whilst the grand staircase provides an iconic gateway to the city below.

The rest of the station however does not work as successfully.

The arrival of the TGV in 2001 resulted in dramatically increased passenger numbers, prompting SNCF to construct a new extension to the north of the main station concourse. Though the extension provides a visually pleasing solution to dealing with these increased numbers both it’s location and design do little to alleviate capacity related problems.

Discussion with Alex, the young professional en-route to Marseille

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Unlike the main concourse which is located adjacent to the train platforms, the location of the extension runs parallel to an underused coach station on one side and a vast yet deserted terrace on the other. Owing to the tendency of passengers to stick close to departure boards and platforms, the majority of passengers remain on the concourse whilst the extension - with no platform access and consisting almost exclusively of modular style shops - does not effectively share the stations passenger traffic.

In addition to permeability, legibility and wayfinding could be greatly improved. Though the grand staircase linking the city to the original station to the south delienates the principle entrance, access to the station via the extension is poor, apparent only by a pair of rubbish bins along the main facade. Furthermore the means of accessing the extensions raised ground floor level is exacerbated by steep flights of steps and the fact that most of the passenger lifts were out of order at the time of our visit.

A principle western entrance is delienated here by a pair of rubbish bins

Capacity | A topic of much discussion locally regarding transport is the proposed extension of Gare Saint Charles to take additional Ligne Nouvelle Provence Côte d’Azur services when the line is completed. Though local government working with national operator SNCF believe this to be the best option regarding increased capacity, many local papers and pressure groups believe that a more suitable solution should be pursued.

The decision of whether to add additional capacity to an already saturated network in the form of Gare Saint Charles, or to share the load between smaller, strategically placed stations (Gare la Blancarde/La Barasse) evokes the debates centered on the UK’s current issues surrounding aviation capacity.

To this end, having visited Gare La Blancard and envisaged ways in which it could be developed there definitely appears to be scope to spread the load of increased capacity.

Marseille - Capital of Culture winner 2013 | During our time in the city we were shown around by Emmy Arts, the head of international relations at the prestigious Ecole Centrale de Marseille. She told me that, although the city was justified in winning the coveted European Capital of Culture in 2013, it is still experiencing the growing pains associated with its rapid ascendancy.

Much like the contacts in Manchester I had spoken to the day before, she believed that Marseille has always had its own identity – something compounded by its role as a largely unloved salt-of-the-earth place, and for years considered culturally backward in comparison to both Paris and Lyon. “The locals love to joke that Marseille faces the sea, turning its back on the rest of France,” she said. Despite being loud, unruly and – by

European standards – dirty, it has a real dynamism reminding me of Manchester – both cities which are more than content with doing their own thing.

The arrival of High Speed Rail has been credited with bringing investment and opportunity to the city, with Marseille’s revival acknowledged in the shape of the aforementioned City of Culture gong. In the intervening two years however, things have changed.

Despite increased growth and relative political stability, a lack of continued investment has left its ugly mark.

The following morning we walked along the waterfront of the city’s La Joliette district, the defining urban quarter of Marseille’s cultural renaissance. The images depicted on the Photoshopped banners draped across the now deserted street-front block don’t quite match the reality: windows are boarded up, and the noticeable lack of human activity soon becomes disconcerting.

Several high profile international events had been earmarked for Marseille, its bid boosted by its rising stature and good international rail links. But they’d fallen through due to the cities inability to improve its local transport links - this being in sharp contrast to Liverpool, a fellow recipient of the City of Culture award as previously discussed.

“Despite increased growth and relative political stability, a lack of continued investment has left its ugly mark”

2.6 | TOULON Though there is a bus network with dedicated lanes, the frequency of services allied with the relatively compact nature of the city centre makes it easier in many cases to walk to your destination. The total absence of cyclists was disconcerting, whereas the employment of an intermediary mode of transport (tram/tube) certainly seems to make the case stronger for the car.

Journey’s 7 & 8 | Saturday 8/8/15 | Regional Links | As with the journey from Manchester to Liverpool several days before, we had wanted to test the regional link between Marseille and Toulon, an important naval town and confirmed recipient of a new HSR connection.

At present SNCF runs the equivalent of ‘classic rail’ commuter services along the coast, a slow stopping service which the young professional we had met the day before had complained about despite some of the spectacular costal vistas it affords passengers.

The funding gap which was evident in the UK was once again apparent, as even basic facilities including shade for passengers on the platform had been neglected - forcing those waiting to congregrate in the shadow of a station building only to then restrict access for other users wishing to enter the station.

City Regions |

Gare de Toulon with the lightweight steel and timber canopy visible

Lightweight steel and timber canopies project forward creating pleasant shaded spaces beneath which plentiful seating at both low and high level is situated. Importantly, station infrastructure including information boards and real time announcements keep passengers informed, effectively turning the space into an extended concourse.

Transport dependency |

Facilities on Gare Saint Charles’s regional platform are minimal

A further example included an exaggerated step up between platform and train that proved testing for a number of the passengers both boarding and alighting.

Gare de Toulon | Toulon’s station is compact, sitting at the head of Avenue Vauban which leads down towards the port. Like Liverpool Lime Street Station it maximises adjacent public space, resulting in a vibrant and distinctive meeting place. Here the station’s modest footprint has been cleverly extended by means of opening up the two wings located to either side of the main entrance.

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The city centre is effectively split between the ‘Upper Town’ (the site of the station) and the ‘Old Town’ adjacent to the port. The Upper Town, resembles a grid of roads and real estate having been the testing ground for Haussman’s prototype urbanism later famously scaled up and exported to Paris.

At the port resides a well used ferry shuttle service, part of the the Mistral Network. This publicly owned transport network covers twelve local towns and was created in 2003 with the intention of consolidating existing local services under a single tariff scheme. The network predominantly operates bus routes, though its three shipping lines provide a 7 day a week half hourly service - extended to three services an hour during peak periods.

This water shuttle service links Toulon with the communes of St Mandrier sur Mer and La Seyne-sur-Mer, located adjacent to and opposite the port of Toulon respectively. As well as providing a regular and well frequented service, the use of water ferrys enables these once prosperous ship building communities to take advantage of tourism - now perhaps the greatest source of local revenue.

A bus service along with the two water lines between these two communes and Toulon completes a triangulation of trade.

This not only makes them economically interdependent of one another but contributes to a wider sense of place - drawing upon the unique topography of the area through which to connect it.

Despite the plethora of grand blocks and avenues one of the most noticeable urban characteristics is the use of the car, with the six lane Boulevard General Leclerc neatly separating the Upper and Old Towns.

The ancillary infrastructure needed to support such pronounced car use is neatly intertwined into the urban fabric as cavernous underground car parks sit under the aforementioned Place Albert and even the towns vast central square - Place de la Liberte.

The result of such heavy car dependency is that the Upper Town feels a little soulless, with non of the dynamism that intergrated modes of transport creates - Manchesters mix of trams, bicycles and pedestrians being a good example.

Cavernous car park beneath the towns main square along with a water shuttle terminal in the Old Town dock

TOULON

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PHASE THREE | OUTPUTS The final phase, Outputs, aimed to collate and then disseminate the project findings.

As previously noted engagement with a range of interested parties was to be a key project outcome which meant finding ways of tapping into different distributive streams.

Whilst I feel that we collectively produced a comprehensive package which relayed our findings I still feel that we were unable to achieve the crossover distribution that I was hoping for.

On the face of it outputs in the form of an event, project film and drawings along with two online articles was a good return for Phases One and Two of the project.

How this could now be moved forward to make it more accessible to a wider audience or repackaged to emphasise key findings would be a interesting next step.

PROJECT EVENT

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Second Cities: Manchester to Marseille Monday 30 November 2015 18.30-20.30 The Gallery, Alan Baxter Limited, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ Follow the Young Urbanists @AoUYU and tweet along at #YUgrants Programme 18.30 18.45 18.50 19.00 19.05 19.30

Station drawings as exhibited

The short film was used to introduce the project

19.45 20.00 20.20 20.45

Arrival and registration Welcome and introduction from Bright Pryde-Saha – Young Urbanist Coordinator, The Academy of Urbansim Introduction to Second Cities project – Charlie Critchell, Harper Downie Screening of project video Drawing walk-through Focused small group discussions – Chaired by Henk Bouwman AoU, Urban-imPulse ¥ Cities and status ¥ Connectivity and user experience ¥ Accessibility and the local condition ¥ Engagement ¥ Communication Feedback from group discussions Open discussion and concluding insights Drinks and networking Close

Project background Second Cities undertook and recorded an ambitious journey, exploring the inter- and onward connections, and actively engaging with rail users along the way through a series of consecutive rail journeys between Manchester and Marseille. Travelling from Manchester, the city aspiring to be the UK’s number two, down to France’s established second city, Marseille, explored three fundamental themes: the level of connectivity to conventional and High Speed Rail infrastructure, the interdependence of rail infrastructure and city regions, and the devolution of power between a country’s capital and second city.

The future of Europe and Britain’s role within a union pushing for greater integration is no longer just a theoretical question; transport and rail infrastructure can lead the way – it’s surely no coincidence that our physical link to the continent is via a High-Speed Train.

Drawing walk through, Charlie Critchell and Julie Plichon

Small group discussions were chaired by Henk Bouwman

The centerpiece of Phase Three was an evening event held at the AoU Charlie would like to thank Julie Plichon, Nicholas Hugh Goddard and Henk Bouwman for their invaluable expertise offices in London. The event aimed to bring together all project outputs and support in undertaking this project, and to the Young Urbanist Network for its support in making this project to be put an audience for discussion and debate. Introducing possible throughbefore the Small Grants Scheme. the project via a short film before expanding upon key themes through a printed drawing set, culminated in group discussions. Along with identifying strengths and weaknessess of the project participants had a go at tackling five key areas which had formed the basis of the initial project themes.

In all the event went well, and really began to engage people with the complex issues related to developing HSR here in the UK - one of the stated project outcomes.

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3.2 | PROJECT FILM

Producing a short film of our experiences was important for a number of reasons. Part of the contention with the way in which HSR has come to be viewed here in the UK is as much to do with its portrayal among the general public as it is about the contentious issues it deals with.

Needless to say condensing such a complex subject into media friendly soundbites to hammer home HSR’s key attributes is a daunting task, but as the French proved with their campaign to launch the TGV; providing a concise and identifiable narrative does work in building positive relations with people and places.

In our case, albeit on a vastly different level, we recognised that using a short film to introduce the projects key themes would be important to estabish the main attributes of the research and the potential validity of our findings. A snapshot of the project as a whole, which in itself was constructed to provide a snapshot of conventional and HSR travel in both the UK and France as it exists today, was another primary purpose of the film.

1. “ We were looking at three things in general, peoples use of urban space, regional travel connections and whether a train could really be used to devolve power between a capital and second city”.

2. “Coming into St. Pancras theres a real sense of arrival – a real sense of place, but its almost too rational – as if your processed through it onto your onwards connection...”

We wanted to show how our experiences in the two countries both compared and contrasted, something I feel was achieved through the use of a split screen with the UK journey shown to the left and French Journey to the right. Picking up upon key observations with simple text and a lean narrative was subsequently expanded through project drawings and articles.

3. “In Gare du Nord there are a lot of people, a lot of levels a lot of activity going on, we really liked the energy going on there”

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4. “Here we were testing the connection between St. Pancras and London Euston, it remains to be seen whether this connection will improve as a result of HS2”

PROJECT FILM

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5. “You can see that the French train was designed to promote greater social interaction and usable public space between the coaches – as well as the bar coach which is a hive of activity...”

6. “Manchester station is really well designed but the sense of arrival is pretty poor, whereas in Marseille the station is quite linear – but the sense of arrival spectacular”.

7. “Gare saint Charles is over saturated at the moment but the authorities want to enlarge it further, we asked ourselves why could the capacity not be shared with another nearby station – Le Blancarde”

8. “When you get to the regional platforms you can really see the funding gap and basic lack of amenities, including the lack of a roof at Marseille”

9. “What was interesting was the quality of the regional train, again a double deck design meaning plenty of space and good views of the coast running alongside”

10. “Liverpool Lime Street really maximises the surrounding public realm whilst the good onward connections are testament to the ongoing investment which has been made to the city since winning the Capital of Culture award”

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3.3 | CITY METRIC ARTICLE From Manchester to Marseille: What can the promise of High Speed Rail do to a city?

Alighting at Marseille’s Saint-Charles railway station on a balmy August evening, a colleague and I made our way to the head of the grand stone staircase which sweeps leisurely down to street level. As we paused momentarily to appreciate the sprawling city beneath us, I cast my mind back to earlier in the day – 7.15am, in fact – when I had left another major city back in the UK, Manchester, then still shrouded in gloom.

Perhaps more importantly than where we had ended up was the way in which we had arrived: not by some ubiquitous budget airline with tedious transfers and a cosy cabin, but by train – station to station, city centre to city centre. What had started out as a rail journey of stop/start frustration between Manchester and London had ended with an easy saunter through the French countryside aboard one of SNCF’s revered Train Grand Vitesse (TGV) services.

Sat in the bar carriage, amid the convivial conversation of my fellow passengers, I soon shrugged off the day’s earlier stresses and gazed contentedly at the speeding scenery, safe in the knowledge that with each passing minute the mercury outside would continue to rise.

High Speed Rail is big news in both the UK and France, though for vastly different reasons. The French are more than a little smug about their much vaunted High Speed network, one which has been successfully rolled out across the country over the course of the last 30 years or more.

Here in the UK plans for a similar network have been championed and chastised in equal measure. Much has been made of the government’s plans to build HS2 – but between the attention-grabbing headlines concerning exorbitant costs and environmental ruin, how much do the public really know? Or perhaps of greater importance, do they even care?

I believe that yes, they do, and consequently set out on a series of consecutive rail journeys through the two countries with the aim of meeting some of them. Supported by The Academy of Urbanism Young Urbanists Small Grants Scheme, my travels took me up to Manchester and Liverpool here in the UK, and then down to Marseille and Toulon in the South of France.

I wanted answers to three very specific questions: How good is the connectivity between different modes of transport along the route?

What is the level of interdependence between rail infrastructure and city regions? And can high speed rail help to devolve power from a country’s capital and second city?

Joe Ravetz and Gabi Schliwa, a senior lecturer and a PhD student at Manchester University’s School of Environment, are both wary of the supposed implications any perceived new status may bring. “Far from being a second city behind London we really believe that Manchester operates in a completely separate sphere. It’s not about North and South but Manchester as a place and a city in it’s own right,” argued Ravetz.

The pair further identified spending cuts, lack of accountability and “blame game” tactics as contributing to the poor state of the North’s much maligned rail network. “Yes, HS2 could work to increase opportunities for Northern Cities,” Ravetz told me. “But there remains a stronger need to make the north work as a cohesive entity first.”

On the train the following morning, I leafed through the locallyproduced One North report – a manifesto setting out an integrated transport strategy in response to the Chancellors call to arms. What it was local people really wanted when it came to improving their transport links, I wondered?

As we crawled back to London, owing to disruption on the track somewhere ahead of us, I asked the retired Mancunian couple sat across the aisle from me what they wanted. Refreshingly, to them it wasn’t a case of either yes or no for HSR but rather: what next?

Manchester | Upon alighting at Manchester Piccadilly I threaded my way north to the site earmarked for a state of the art station concourse, set to house four new High Speed tracks. Taking a moment to imagine the hub of activity surrounding the proposed public plaza which will play host to a whole spectrum of civic life, I found myself thinking of chancellor George Osborne’s flagship Northern Powerhouse project: an initiative which would see Manchester – in effect, this very spot – at the heart of a new mega-conurbation to include nearby Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds and York.

In the bar car on the journey south

The chance to bask in a little Mediterranean sun was just a bonus. The real reason behind my foray south was the compulsion to test a few theories – theories concerning both Manchester and Marseille, arguably the emerging second cities of their respective countries, and the means by which they may soon be connected via a High Speed Rail line.

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To supporters of HS2 the construction of the new rail line and the growth of the North are seen as not only symbolic, but perhaps even symbiotic – a straightforward relationship of cause and effect. A couple of local contacts showed me around the city centre, before sitting down to discuss the government’s designs for Manchester and the potential effects its new role as the UK’s official second city may bring.

Site of Manchester’s new HS2 terminal. Interview on the journey to London.

“It’s not about North and South but Manchester as a place and a city in it’s own right”

CITY METRIC ARTICLE People are asking the wrong questions, they told me. “Rather than a High Speed line being used to devolve power to the north it’s the problem itself which should be devolved. Why can’t we harness the minds of our great local science and engineering schools to develop the next generation of rail travel?”

Their contention that High Speed Rail is in fact old technology was one with their belief that devolving the issue of next generation rail travel to the north as an engineering problem would serve to provide the region with a sense of genuine ownership over its future – and subsequently work to rebalance the disparity of power between North and South.

In Paris, I transferred from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de Lyon for the Marseille-bound TGV. The first thing that strikes you about the Paris-Marseille train is the room afforded by its double deck design.

The carriage’s public areas – usually considered a mere afterthought – are commodious, with not only the ubiquitous luggage rack but small banquet style sofas and generous staircases upon which some passengers happily while away the hours chatting or reading. The seating too, even in standard class, is plush and well laid out – a far cry from the thinly padded seats and creaking fold-up tables of their UK counterparts.

London to Marseille | After a delayed journey from Manchester on a claustrophobic Pendolino train, we arrived in the dreary low-lit enclave of Euston station. It was a welcome change, then, to transfer onto the Eurostar at St. Pancras International.

The theatricality of St. Pancras station definitely adds to the sense of adventure imparted by a Eurostar journey. The international trains’ décor is becoming a little tired, and space comes at a premium. But I found that, when faced with the prospect of travelling to the continent via other means, some passengers were more than willing to pay the extra cost to travel in comfort from city centre to city centre.

One such, a middle aged lady from London, was travelling onto Nice to visit family, a trip she takes bi-monthly. She told me she prefers the train because of her aversion to flying, and the greater flexibility and comfort afforded by the train.

Questioned on her views about whether HSR could help devolve power away from a city’s capital, she told me that she believed it could – but only if that process was carefully regulated. “For me, London is and will always be the UK’s main city, and I really believe it is important that it continues to receive preference over the others.”

This view isn’t uncommon in the south of England, where some feel more closely aligned with their European counterparts than they do with their fellow compatriots just a couple of hours north. I wondered if those in France felt the same way, given the country’s better connectivity and the decentralisation of power that the TGV had allegedly brought.

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Two days in Provence | In Marseille we met Emmy Arts, the head of international relations at the prestigious Ecole Centrale de Marseille. She told me that, although the city was justified in winning the coveted European Capital of Culture in 2013, it is still experiencing the growing pains associated with its rapid ascendancy.

Much like the contacts in Manchester I had spoken to the day before, she believed that Marseille has always had its own identity – something compounded by its role as a largely unloved salt-of-the-earth place, for years considered culturally backward in comparison to both Paris and Lyon. “The locals love to joke that Marseille faces the sea, turning its back on the rest of France,” she said. Despite being loud, unruly and –

by European standards – dirty, it has a real dynamism. It reminds me of Manchester – both cities are more than content with doing their own thing The arrival of High Speed Rail has been credited with bringing investment and opportunity to the city, with Marseille’s revival acknowledged in the shape of the aforementioned City of Culture gong.

In the intervening two years however, things have changed. Despite increased growth and relative political stability, a lack of continued investment has left its ugly mark.

Comfortable, if dated, seating on the TGV. Banquet style sofa in

The bar carriage, too, is a noticeable improvement from not only UK trains, but also the Eurostar. A young professional travelling from Paris to Cannes for the weekend helped to shed more light on the appeal of the French HSR network. For him, the major benefit of the TVG is the opportunity it gives him to escape the city and be in the south of France in just over 3 hours. The regularity of the service is another big plus for passengers, justifying their belief that the service is designed to work around them.

One note of contention, however, was the incremental price rises which are hitting customers who use these services on a regular basis. Despite this, the consensus among most passengers was that travelling via TGV was the only way of making the trip south. But some local trains are a different matter: after arriving at Marseille St Charles, our southbound companion was facing a thirty minute wait and snail-like onward connection along the French coast.

The following morning we walked along the waterfront of the city’s La Joliette district, the defining urban quarter of Marseille’s cultural renaissance. The images depicted on the Photoshopped banners draped across the now deserted street-front block don’t quite match the reality: windows are boarded up, and the noticeable lack of human activity soon becomes disconcerting.

Several high profile international events had been earmarked for Marseille, its bid boosted by its rising stature and good international rail links. But they’d fallen through due to the city’s inability to improve its local transport links.

“Although the city was justified in winning the coveted European Capital of Culture in 2013, it is still experiencing the growing pains associated with its rapid ascendancy”.

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3.3 | CITY METRIC ARTICLE In stark contrast, a fellow recipient of the City of Culture award (Liverpool, 2008), which I had visited along with Manchester had impressed me with its integrated intercity transport networks, sustained investment and the realisation of a shared vision by its public figures and policymakers.

I’d taken an earlier trip to Liverpool from Manchester, in order to gain a feel of how nearby cities relate to their bigger neighbours. For the same reason, that afternoon, we travelled an hour east along the coast to Toulon, an important naval city and confirmed recipient of a new High Speed Rail connection.

Asking locals if they were aware of this new link, and more importantly what it could mean to them, we spoke with a young family dependent on the train for day trips to nearby cities. “Getting the kids ready, taking the slow train – it means that by the time we arrive we are often limited to what we can do,” they told me. “A faster and more frequent service would be great for us.”

As with those who we had spoken to on the cross-country trip, we found that cost is never far from people’s minds: constructing a brand new line that local people could not afford to use certainly wouldn’t help sustain the trust built between SNCF and its customers.

It was a similarly nuanced picture when it came to the issue of rail infrastructure and city regions. Establishing stronger ties with local cities would be a big plus for those residing in both the north of England and the south of France – but the residents of both Manchester and Marseille made clear it should not come at the expense of a distillation of a city’s identity.

That this sentiment should remain so strong even now is testament to the competitive mindset that was bred between neighbouring cities with the onset of the industrial revolution all those years ago. But what was then undoubtedly a catalyst in advancing knowledge and production may now serve to quell both progress and cooperation.

Cost again was an issue people cited as critical: yes, they favoured greater integration, but not if it meant further local cuts.

As in France, an established High Speed Network would in time create the added impetus for improving local transport networks. If High Speed Rail is built and measures for local infrastructure are not implemented, much of the value that a High Speed network can bring would be lost. And while it cannot be denied that local rail infrastructure in the north of England desperately needs overhauling, only a project like High Speed Rail will bring with it the political clout to ensure that this is carried through.

Finally, people do recognise the need for devolution – but the practical parameters and tangible outputs of it remain largely undefined. Those residing in both Manchester and Marseille – the unofficial “Second Cities” of their respective countries – appear ambivalent about this status. The chancellor wants a Northern Powerhouse to enable the North and South to contribute more equally to the country’s economic growth – but what does this mean in reality?

A project of this size and scope will inevitably invite criticism due to the number of people’s lives it will potentially affect. To this end, in addition to the national campaign, it will need the rigour, skill and resolution of city leaders to make the case for the project locally. Once people are able to see the value in a city’s civic assets and infrastructure, they are much more willing to fight for its inception and continued investment.

“It will need the rigour, skill and resolution of city leaders to make the case for the project locally”.

In fact, it’s only due to the development of a High Speed Rail network all those years ago that SNCF now finds itself in a position to develop the same technology along regional routes, and offer the option of a much improved service. The French story shows that, properly managed, High Speed Rail can begin to work directly in the interests of local communities.

Yes, High Speed Rail is expensive, it will be slow to deliver and it is, above all, political. But this must be used as an advantage. A better performing mainline railway may or may not in time address the issues that the chancellor identifies; we must ensure local transport networks are developed so that everyone can feel the benefits of this important long-term investment.

Lessons learnt | The four day trip had helped answer a few of my questions – but it had also served to raise several more.

On the question of connectivity, I had at times been frustrated by local transport. On the whole, though, I had found it acceptable, despite the way it appreciably slowed down onward journey times in certain cases.

Having spoken to those in both Manchester and Marseille who use these networks every day, I found that they recognised the benefits that High Speed Rail could bring – but that for it was direct investment in local transport infrastructure which would have the biggest impact on their quality of life.

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I believe that this may explain the reluctance of people en masse to embrace High Speed Rail. Considered on its own merits, it still remains a critical investment – but only if it is able to be developed and coexist alongside visionary, collaborative, and above all, responsible policymaking.

This article featured on the City Metric website: November 27th 2015 Manchester’s tram network is intrinsic to the cities urban identity

In Manchester, there’s a perception that the sweeping and sustained local cuts of the last parliament caused widespread havoc. This sits uncomfortably with the government’s new found enthusiasm for shaping the north to the vision of what many consider to be a Londoncentric political class.

THINKING CITY ARTICLE Marseille and Manchester: what can we learn from ‘second cities’?

France and the UK are often seen as two centralised countries dominated by their capital cities. While parallels can be drawn between Paris and London, we think the same can be done with Marseille and Manchester, two cities enjoying a renaissance that can increasingly be considered as “second cities”. But what does this term really mean – and how does it play out?

Marseille | Marseille is in many ways France’s second city – even their football games against the Paris Saint German team express the underlying rivalry between these two cities. Home to 1 million inhabitants, Marseille is France’s primary port and its commercial gateway to Europe; as a result it has a hugely multicultural character. Its spectacular location perched on two bays make it an iconic place in France. Beyond this idyllic imagery, however, the city has suffered from a negative image – whether local Mafiosi, drug trade or dirt. Indeed the city is characterised by dramatic inequalities where pauperised populations are found in “quartiers nords”, those isolated urban ghettos, where the beautiful tramways and tubes that make the “Marseillais” so proud do not go.

The year of 2013 and the European Capital of Culture status can be seen as the climax of a regeneration strategy initiated in 1995 called “Euroméditérannée” that aimed to position Marseille as a strong link between Europe and the Mediterranean. The project has been given the status of an “Operation of National Importance”, and financed at different public scales: local, national, and European to promote Marseille as the “biggest Southern metropolis in Europe for business”.

This regeneration has its dark side though. A less successful version of it can be found along the new business district “La Joliette”. The former docks have been redeveloped, with the help of some American banks (among them: Lehman Brothers) to host commercial offices and luxury housing. But the docks remain empty, and the offices are still “to let”.

They have been “to let” for many years now. The political will to bring world-class investment into Marseille contrasts with the empty reality of those docks, and mirrors pretty well what is happening in the city.

Perhaps Marseille is just a city that is naturally resistant to gentrification.

Manchester | The idea that Manchester is in any way “second” to any other locale is an anathema to most Mancunians. Manchester is special, unique and gritty but sophisticated and elegant. The story of Manchester is well known; the first industrial city, the dark satanic mills, Engels’ “Condition of the working class in England”. This manufacturing heritage is important, but equally as important was the nexus of the service industries such as banks, insurers and merchants that co-located in the city to serve much of Lancashire and the North West. This has left both an excellent built legacy, and an institutional legacy which enables it to remain economically competitive to this day.

Pragmatism is a key quality of the citizens of greater Manchester. Lets not forget that it was a pretty grim place in the 80s and early 90s, like many cities in the UK. However during this time it still produced the culturally significant Madchester scene, which kicked off the development of the Gay Village and the Northern Quarter, two areas that are now fundamental to the city’s life and vibrancy.

La Joliette, Marseille

The city has worked hard to improve this infamous status. Two years ago Marseille was the European Capital of Culture, enhancing many existing places and creating new landmarks for the city, like the Museum of Mediterranean Civilisations (MUCEM), new amenities along the Vieux Port and bringing international attention to its geographical and cultural potential.

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It took a bomb in 1996 for the powers that be to get serious about making the city centre a tolerable environment once again, after the grievous town planning of the 1970s. What could have been a disastrous response was turned into a triumph by the council and it is now held up as a poster child of city centre regeneration. It has not been perfect: ‘The Triangle’ (the old Corn Exchange to most people) has had a troublesome recent history, as has the Fire Station.

Manchester Town Hall

Victoria Station has only just been improved, having been essentially ignored for years. Other areas, such as Hulme, have been successfully transformed, and Castlefields has been a phenomenal success with warehouse conversions and new builds around the dramatic viaducts and canals that were once the commercial veins of the city.

“The idea that Manchester is in any way ‘second’ to any other locale is an anathema to most Mancunians”.

Scratch beneath the surface though, and Manchester too has its problems. About a quarter of Greater Manchester ranks in the 5% most deprived areas in the country according the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015. Spatially, this deprivation is concentrated in the North and East of the city and one of the city’s key challenges is now channeling some of Manchester’s success into these areas.

These, then, are two proud and compelling cities with very different histories, but that in some ways share a common trajectory. By learning from these places we understand that perhaps cities should not be perceived in terms of being “first” and “second” – but should be taken as individual entities that offer unique qualities. Both cities are beginning to convince their capitals of this fact and should look forward to the commensurate attention, however, it remains to be seen if they will be able to harness this to solve the engrained difficulties that are faced by both.

This article featured on the Thinking City website: November 29th 2015, Co-authored by Julie Plichon and Nicholas Hugh Goddard

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3.5 | PROJECT CONCLUSIONS The following section summarises my key findings against the three research areas as set out in Phase One.

The level of connectivity to conventional and High Speed Rail infrastructure | What is the level of connectivity between conventional and HSR infrastructure?

The level of connectivity between conventional and HSR infrastructure is unsurprisingly variable across the route which was taken. For instance St. Pancras was extended largely due to the relocation of Eurostar services to the station whereas Gare du Nord has seemingly changed little as a consequence of the TGV’s arrival. The variety of cities, stations and modes of transport would make it both undesirable and virtually impossible to standardise the material look of a complete journey. Instead it is the quality of the experience which should be standardised in as much as possible – the complete journey – which reads as a narrative of seamless yet distinct experiences with quality as an overriding theme.

Sense of Arrival | A sense of arrival is important when entering any city – particularly for the first time. As a visitor you don’t want ambiguity – but clarity – which means being able to think to yourself: “I am in Manchester”. There are two aspects to this; the first is the journey off the train through the station and the second the onward connection. Of the six stations visited all succeeded in at least one aspect but rarely in both.

Manchester is a good example. Stepping off the train you are greeted by a member of Virgin staff before proceeding through a glass screen to then exit onto a spacious concourse.

However, upon leaving the station the experience becomes confusing with a low quality urban realm through which to circumnavigate compounded by poor wayfinding information.

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Contrast this to Marseille’s Gare du Saint Charles. The journey from the train through the station is unremarkable, with no staff or ticket barriers suggesting that that is as far as your money takes you, with any responsibility of the operator to provide onward assistance being essentially dissolved.

Manchester’s overly fussy wayfinding boards present the user with too much information in a dry and un-engaging manner, whereas the main entrance to Marseille’s station extension was delienated by nothing more than a pair of overflowing rubbish bins.

Battle your way through the concourse however – to the terrace beyond – and you feel unequivocally as if you are in Marseille.

The orientation of the grand stone staircase takes the place of the best wayfinding board leading directly onto a number of arterial routes.

Liverpool was the only place which felt as if it had been comprehensibly designed, with a clean and cohesive signage strategy making for an intuitive experience across a range of transport modes. This is a good example of how an autonomous political agenda can be brought to bear, whereas in most cases the reality is that a range of stakeholders and franchises will compete for the right to push through their own brand identity.

It is perhaps the two regional stations, Liverpool Lime Street and Gare de Toulon, which come closest to succeeding in the two respects. Both provide attractive and energetic public spaces situated at the head of arterial roads lined with identifiable buildings and structures – even if Toulon’s onward connections are limited.

Taking these points in respect of other stations with a view to future development, it is important to acknowledge that not all will be lucky enough to be situated as advantageously as a Gare du Saint Charles or a Liverpool Lime Street. However, there are certainly ways in which the station concourse and public realm immediately adjacent can be designed to impart a sense of not only arrival but perhaps more importantly – place.

A distinct advantage of train travel and train stations themselves is that they are almost always located (parkway stations excluded) in the heart of a city. This is in marked contrast to airports or park and ride schemes for private cars: often nondescript edge-lands designed and defined as places of process and efficiency. From the smallest of design gestures: providing uninterrupted south facing seating, to more comprehensive strategic moves, there are a plethora of ways in which a symbiosis between a sense of arrival and a sense of place can be achieved.

Legibility and Wayfinding | Both Manchester Piccadilly and Marseille’s Gare Saint Charles Station proved guilty of providing poor signage.

Looking ahead, I believe that the need to provide a consolidated wayfinding strategy at the inception of a project is two-fold. It is not only critical in making travel easier within a locality but also in inferring a level of due responsibility on the behalf of the authority/operator. On a broader level this could actively encourage greater multi-modal travel – something which could then be extended beyond visitors and occasional users – potentially a factor in encouraging wider public transport use amongst locals.

Intelligent use of Space | Intelligent use of space is critical if stations are to go beyond their primary brief of providing a means to travel too or from a destination. A number of factors will dictate how a station is to evolve and continue functioning as an important civic institution, though most commonly it is the need for additional capacity that will determine whether a station should be expanded. The requirement to provide not only more space – but intelligent space – is a theme which arose on several occasions throughout the trip.

Gare du Saint Charles and Gare de Toulon are two examples of bad versus good development of space. The former, having built a large extension in 2007 to accommodate increased passenger numbers provides no additional train infrastructure just a grid of modular style shops. More disappointing is that the entire run of the extension consists of an impermeable facade accessible by just two sets of double doors onto a vast yet unused terrace.

PROJECT CONCLUSIONS Gare de Toulon by way of comparison has a similar need for additional space, particularly owing to its small linear internal concourse. Here however a simple extension in the form of lightweight canopies to the front of the station has effectively doubled this concourse, allowing it to spill into the adjacent public square. This simple yet effective intervention not only costs a fraction of the price of building a new extension but provides an important focal point for civic life.

Intelligent use of space must be developed to not only meet immediate or fundamental needs (e.g. additional capacity) but work to improve customer experience as with the example at Gare de Toulon. Looking to the future, stations will need to make purposeful statements as opposed to empty gestures: spaces which are responsive to the identity of that particular place or look to raise the level of integration into a passengers routine.

Though there is often significant pressure on owners to make a station financially viable, more must be done to ensure that this does not result in missed civic opportunities.

Cross-programmatic ‘Shared’ space | Stations and their environs are busy places and in many ways represent in microcosm the functions of the city as a whole, with retail, business and leisure activities interspersed among passengers vying to catch onward connections. Striking the correct balance between ‘open’ and ‘closed’ or alternatively ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ spaces is a complex juggling act and one which different stations achieved to greater or lesser extents.

Interestingly, I found that Gare du Nord, often chastised for its unintelligible use of space, provided a rich backdrop of dynamism and energy – accentuated by the intersecting level changes in the RER extension to the east of the main concourse. Manchester Piccadilly provides another interesting case. Though I am still yet to be convinced by the safety of the tram tunnels directly below the station which run across pavements onto arterial roads, the use of shared surface in nearby Piccadilly Gardens feels not only like a successful cross-programmatic space, but more crucially, a successful cross-programmatic Place.

Competition between different road-users and programmes naturally suggests conflict along with diminished efficiency and safety. However, take away any semblance of shared ownership and you are left with the condition prevalent in Toulon’s station environs: a total monopoly of the private car which contrasts sharply to the bustling public square adjacent to the station.

Looking to the future, I believe that it is important to allow for a degree of flexibility with any combined station and public realm masterplan. In regards to updating existing stations this is predominantly an evolutionary exercise, with many stations regarded as key civic institutions which have often presided over the changing city around them.

With this in mind it is important to appreciate that though the conditions for the use of a space can be set, it is the people which define this use – essentially turning a space into a place.

The importance of this transition cannot be underestimated as great places are what contribute to a city’s identity – particularly crucial when scaled up in the context of developing homogeneous city regions, addressed in the next section.

The interdependence between rail infrastructure and city regions | Are rail infrastructure and city regions interdependent?

Based on the findings of the project in regards to the cities visited, I would draw two conclusions. Firstly, that at this present time, it would be hard to define the North of England as functioning as a set of cohesive city regions. Secondly, I would argue that rail infrastructure and cities – or city regions – are not interdependent. Crucially however this is something which could change.

Regarding the first point, those I interviewed only ever spoke of their city as an independent place, separate from neighbouring cities and strongly in favour of their cities identity and autonomy.

On the second point it seems apparent that rail infrastructure between cities in these regions are fulfilling only the minimum need required of them – that of transporting passengers between A and B. Essentially there is the feeling that things are happening in spite of the existing rail network and not because of it.

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Local Priorities | The common consensus among those I spoke to was that better local transport links was the single biggest issue in improving the lives of the people in that respective locality. Both Joe Ravetz in Manchester and Emmy Arts in Marseille cited political jockeying (albeit at national and local level respectively) as being primarily to blame for the poor state of their local transport networks. Both welcomed greater integration with neighbouring cities but were quick to caution against the erosion of their own cities identity in the process.

Identity and Autonomy | People I spoke to in the four regional cities that I visited: Manchester, Liverpool, Marseille and Toulon appeared keenly aware of their cities identity. Discussed was not necessarily what made up that identity but more the fact that each city was a place in its own right, not to be confused with neighbouring cities and not in any way dependent on their respective capital city. Where the four cities seemingly differed was in their ability to assume control and take advantage of their unique identity as a way of developing their own respective programmes.

The two recipients of the Capital of Culture award – Liverpool in 2008 and Marseille in 2013 demonstrate the differing ways in which this process has been handled. Strong local governance in Liverpool has ensured that investment in key infrastructure and local assets has continued. A cohesive vision of how the city should build on these successes has been pursued to ensure that locals benefit, whilst Liverpools ‘brand image’ continues to make it competitive both at home and abroad.

Having largely succeeded in shaking off its controversial image, Marseille has since struggled to make good on its Capital of Culture success. Though still increasingly popular with visitors, much of the advances made during and immediately after receipt of the award have stalled. Most noticeable is the waterside La Joliette district along with the loss of a number of hosting opportunities for key international events – a result of poor local transport connections. Having spoken with contacts in the city this has been largely attributed to a series of fragmented and allegedly corrupt local administrations – more interested in gaining personal political advantage than pursuing a city wide vision.

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3.5 | PROJECT CONCLUSIONS Continued Investment | Establishing a comprehensive city wide vision must be an inclusive process requiring that a number of different stakeholders take ownership of specific issues. Equally, it is the job of local politicians to exhibit strong leadership which has the power to galvanise disparate groups and mobilise citizens, to enable these programmes to be driven through. Ultimately though continued political, social and financial investment across the board is critical if cities are to firstly thrive and then look to establish a strong position within a wider city region.

I believe that only a project of HS2’s scope would bring with it the political clout to ensure that local transport networks are improved – a failure to do so would otherwise mitigate any advantages which the construction of a high-speed network would bring. However if this is the case why had this not happened in Marseille? Though local connections (i.e. city-wide) have been slow to improve local stations along the French coast (effectively the city-region) are preparing themselves for HSR. The crucial thing to recognise is that although this has been slow to happen, it has ultimately happened because a national high-speed network was established in the first instance.

Therefore if cities and city regions are prepared to make the initial investment, and if this is then developed via continued local investment, HS2 may just, in time, begin to deliver the far reaching benefits for local people and communities.

On the second point of HSR’s ability to facilitate this process many felt that, as an end in itself, it would not be enough.

Second City status | It appears that residents on the whole are ambivalent towards the perceived second city status bestowed upon them – contrary to what I had assumed before I had made my visits. Two key inferences can be drawn from this: The first is that there appears to be a genuine wariness between capital cities and their second cities, with the status of ‘second’ suggesting to those interviewed subordination rather than importance.

The second inference is more positive, the view that those in both Manchester and Marseille considered their city to possess a unique identity which made it not just a place but the place.

This was crystallised in the conversations I had with Emmy Arts in Marseille who spoke of the city “turning its back on the rest of France”. Though a seemingly light-hearted jibe there is certainly an undercurrent of separatism at play which, if not recognised with a view to being addressed, could potentially prove problematic moving forwards.

The most nuanced view of how to address this separatism was put to me by the Mancunian couple on the journey back to London.

As aforementioned it was felt that on its own the growth of a high-speed network would not be enough, as the strategic moves required to initiate genuine devolution are of a far more fundamental nature. Short of these sweeping nation-wide changes the most pressing matter for people is developing their own local and then regional programmes – particularly with regard to improved local transport connections.

Having discussed this with people in both the UK and France I would argue that yes: devolution between a country’s capital city and second city is necessary, it is however fraught with difficulties. What form will this devolution take? What exactly is to be devolved? Is it something worth gaining and will it actually work to benefit the city in question?

This view chimed with other conversations I had which threw light on the mistrust people have of the London-centric political class who are seen to hold all the power. I gained a sense that people did not simply want to be handed power conditionally but rather the mandate to set the conditions from which to develop their regions needs and vision.

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Given this interpretation I believe that any devolution of power away from a capital city has to be unconditional and weighted towards the recipient. The problem inherent with this view was put to me by one of the passengers we spoke to on the Eurostar to Paris – the idea that a degree of devolution, if properly regulated, was fine – though not at the expense of the capital city in question. Again it is the issue of identity which remains at the forefront of peoples concerns HSR in the wider context |

Is devolution between a country’s capital and second city necessary and if so can HSR be used as an agent to facilitate this process?

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As with the status of ‘second’ which those in Manchester and Marseille disliked so much, equally the term ‘devolution’ may not be the best way of describing the process of a power share between cities. By definition devolution is relative: a model for sharing power that is dependent on the amount of power which the stronger partner is prepared to part with. Furthermore if power (in whatever form it assumes) is shared, there are inevitably questions regarding the value of what the junior partner then gains.

Devolution and Ownership |

They believed that HSR was not the answer and that rather than devolving power – something so largely undefinable and unquantifiable – it was the problem of connectivity itself which needed devolving. Advocating that The North should be collectively charged with finding a 21st century solution to better integrated rail travel would, they felt, provide the region with a genuine sense of ownership over its future.

The devolution of power between a country’s capital and second city |

Conditional versus Unconditional devolution |

This is where HSR can make a discernible difference. If the advantages which the development of a high-speed network would bring can be recognised – greater movement of people, increased choice, improved growth – and are allied with the idea of continued investment (strong local leadership, creating a sense of ownership etc.) then I believe as a piece of infrastructure it can ultimately work in the interests of the many rather than the few.

PROJECT CONCLUSIONS

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Project Summary | The project has now been live for over a year. It was originally designed to provide a snapshot of the current state of the combined classic and HSR infrastructures in both the UK and France. Undoubtedly things have moved on since the city visits comprising Phase Two of the project were completed in August 2015. Turbulent political change in the UK sees the same governing party but with a change of leadership; a result of the country voting to leave the European Union. It has since been confirmed by the incumbent May administration that HS2 will go ahead as planned, having been one of the key infrastructural projects of David Cameron’s premiership.

Though circumstances have inevitably changed I believe that the work carried out and the subsequent conclusions presented remain valid. Though Phase Two itself provided the ‘snapshot’ initially required, it is through a constant and evolving dialogue – the Phase One roundtable, Phase Two interviews and Phase Three exhibition/ group work as well as conversations held since – which root the project firmly in the present.

Of the three areas investigated the following key points capture the issues which I believe to be at the forefront of the debate: The level of connectivity to conventional and High Speed Rail infrastructure | The quality of the experience The interdependence between rail infrastructure and city regions | Continued Investment The devolution of power between a country’s capital and second city | Ownership not devolution If a high-speed network here in the UK can be developed in situ with these principles, or at least recognise that these are areas for further exploration, I believe that it can not only deliver on its promise of providing enhanced rail capacity and connectivity but act as a much needed catalyst in developing the transport needs of local people in the areas through which it passes.

Acknowledgements: I’d like to thank the following team members for their invaluable expertise and support in undertaking this project, and to the Young Urbanist Network for its support in making the project possible through the Small Grants Scheme.

Henk Bouwman Bright Pryde-Saha Julie Plichon Nicholas Hugh Goddard

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4.0 | PROJECT APPENDICES Second Cities roundtable – Transcript | Bright: Thank you for coming, we are happy to have such wonderful attendees… So I am Bright Pryde, for those who don’t know me, I am the young urbanists coordinator for the Academy.

So recently we decided to launch a small grants scheme, we decided to award up to three projects, a maximum of £400, we had six submissions in total that we have judged and asked for more details, and really we were looking for anything, I mean, projects that were exciting and that had a lot of ambition, and even not on topics we necessarily covered formally, and we though it would be a good idea to put in council of the YU. So Patrick is on this and ? as well and to make the decision and taking part to the judging panel as well, so yeah, we have had a great response and we are really excited about the three projects we have, and so, Charlie is in charge of this project, but if you want any information about the other two they are on our site or if you want to get involved in what’s coming up with the exhibition in August (…) you would see more about the other projects, but that will be all said in newsletter, so yeah, I’ll pass over to Charlie.

Charlie: I’ll just obviously follow what Bright had just said, thank you for coming, so just a bit about myself for of all, I’ve been a young urbanist since last September, training to be an architect, and as you noticed quite interested in urbanism transport, but also obviously you know, in politics, and helping me on this project is Julie Plichon here Julie: Yeah so I’m a young urbanist since last February, as a graduate in political sciences I was very interested in devolution process and hum, my hometown is Bordeaux and we’re going to have a new line operating from Paris to Bordeaux in two hours next year, and like, the effect of this line interested me and so, in Marseille it was another perspective and so, I’m very interested by transports in general, and particularly active mobilities, so it’s not really the train but it’s still very interesting for me.

Charlie: OK, so I think that you obviously all had a chance to look through the project statement and its criterias, and so the main objective for tonight is the existing level of connectivity between conventional high speed rail infrastructure both in UK and Europe then I’ll speak later about the interdependence on rail infrastructure in city regions, alongside the role of rail in devolving power between the country capital and second cities then finally to develop those project criterias…

Just a bit more about the project, so, as you can see on the map here it consists of ten consecutive rail journeys, so what we will be doing first is obviously travelling to Manchester where I will hopefully be meeting with a couple of people who have agreed to help and showing me around, so that’s one the national journeys, then I will go to Liverpool for a couple of hours, so, testing the regional link there.

Back to Manchester for the night and then down to London the following day where I will meet with Julie in Euston and then down to Marseille then on the third day we will go to Toulon, so another regional journey, back to Marseille for the night and then on the fourth day we come back to London. So obviously we’ve been through the aims of the project there but really one of the key thing is the use of perspective on high speed rail.

And then I’m a bit on a mission here because I’ve never been on a high speed train so the fact that I am pushing it so much is maybe a little bit too soon… So we’re looking at use of perspective and focusing on connexions, so the opportunity and accessibility which interchange along the route but also we need the public rail, facilitated by the stations, in particular in Manchester and Marseille.

The rail journey in itself, so the experience regarding at comfort, access and flexibility, and thirdly, Julie and I and I think this is very important is engagement so really trying to talk to people along the route, seeing what they understand the advantages of high speed rail to be, whether they care or not, and finally how they think the high speed rail as in the case of France of back in England can or act as a catalyst for devolution.

So just before we get into it now it would be good if we can just go around the table quickly and if everybody just says a few word about themselves… So maybe to my right..

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Lewis: Hi, I’m Lewis Hubbard, I’m an civil engineer at Peter Brett Associates and a young urbanist for about two years.

Nicholas: I’m Nicholas Goddard, I’ve studied town planning in Manchester and then worked for commercial developer, I’m currently finishing my MSc at the Bartlett Kieran: Kieran Toms, I’m a transport planner at Hounslow Council, I have studied and worked in a few different cities around Europe, mainly capitals.

John: I’m John Mason, I’ve just finished my Masters in Planning, now about to be a full time planner in September, and in the meantime I’ve been working with the Independent Transport Commission on the project of the HS rail Patrick: I’m Patrick Hourmant, I’m on the YU steering committee right from the beginning, at the moment I’m managing the data base, I’ve got in interest in cities but also in transports Nicholas F: Hi I’m Nick Francis, I lead the research for the government “future of cities” project, I’m also a consultant at (??) so I kind of wear two hats.

Camilla: Camilla Ween, I’m an architect and urbanist and transport person, I’ve worked at TfL for 11 years, I’ve actually studies transport planning so I work a lot on integration of transport in cities, and the issues around public realm, thinking of how the public real is part of transport network.

Michael: I’m Michael Bredin, I work for Alan Baxter associates for transport plan and I also work for the ATC… Atilla: I’m Atilla, I’m an urban designer at RTKL at Farringdon road, so a multinational design company part of (?) engineering company, and yeah, I thought this is a nice evening to be part of because yeah I did some project on urban development (?) so let’s see what happens Claudia: I’m Claudia Penerada I work in TfL, and I have been part of many meetings about the HS2 station.

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PROJECT APPENDICES Bright: I’m Bright Saha, I’m the young urbanists coordinator and eventually my other job is working for the independent transport commission.

John Worthington: I’m John Worthington, I’ve been both an academic and a practioner, and I used to work for global businesses a few years ago, commissioner for the independent transport commission, and ex‐director also in the Academy of Urbanism.

Myriam: I’m Myriam, and I work for Transport for London, and I work more on how stations become places for cities, and I came to London actually 4 years ago, I did a master in urbanism at LSE Connectivity | Charles: OK, that’s great, so if we move on to the first point, which is connectivity, so to discuss the existing levels of connectivity in high speed rail infrastructure in both UK and Europe… So what I kind of want to engage from every one is what they understand what connectivity is first of all? Just from my point of view very briefly I think it can bring to two possible things: connectivity as a concept, so we are talking about accessibility to services, information, and connectivity can also be a physical condition, so the accessibility to places, so again the urban rail, different ways of transport, I kind of think that connectivity is closely linked to accessibility and accessibility could mean opportunity… So I would like to ask anyone who has some thoughts on this to go for it Camilla: OK go on then, so, to me, connectivity is, apart from the very obvious physical thing of connecting places with infrastructure is a whole sort of an invisible connectivity which is sort of legibility and what you can see and how you can read the landscape around you and how you understand automatically that your location is in a particular direction because of the way it is designed, so I think that’s a very important aspect of connectivity which is slightly overlooked

Charles: OK, so the HS2 executive David Eegon (?) quoted said that connectivity is intrinsically linked to productivity, which I think he would probably say in the economic case for HS2 so maybe that’s another thing we could think about Claudia: You are talking about studying connectivity in these particular stations or more globally?

Charles: I think this is both really, we are looking at the connections so, physical connexions, so getting off one train, getting through a space, getting to one train to another train or another mode of transport, but I just think as well of connectivity in terms of accessibility and opportunity, and opportunity obviously means choice. You know, allow you say good accessibility, it may mean catching a fast speed train for a drink with a friend after work or something like that, so I see it as a kind of a starting point maybe, in kicking off a series of different processes…

Atilla: I think what is also important to change modes…

Connectivity is also from a train station to a city center, train station to the airport Bright: If your journey is an hour shorter it means you have an hour more to spend with your family or your friends so it’s not just you save that time, you get to use that time doing something Charles: I guess this is something we all recognize in London, I mean geographically it’s pretty close but poor connexions stop you from meeting someone after work or something like that…

In terms of the project criteria I try to break it down such as project criteria A, maybe this will give us a starting point between quantitative and qualitative indicators, so as I say quantitative indicator may be time, how long the journey takes, how many actions in a connexion so for example from the platform to the concourse to the taxi.

Or on the other hand qualitative indicators, it may be something like is the rail infrastructure of good quality, accessible, I think these are all themes that kind of will be looked at obviously on our trip, so it’s really trying to think that when we’re there, because obvisouly for connexions we will have quite a short amount of time to record and understand the places we’re through, what we should look at…

Lewis: Another ET(?), the next page you’ve got reliability as well, in terms of are the connexions reliable: sometimes I will take the tube for a train journey: for instance classic one I’ve done before is Stratford to Liverpool Street. Train is probably faster, but less frequent and probably less reliable: I’ll jump on the central line every time. Hm, so, that could be an example of background research that you can get that data from when you turn up in a place then you’ve got kind of a bit more of context and you can see those destinations and how good are …

Kieran: I imagine the contrast between Manchester to Liverpool (impossible to hear), how it has enabled the Northen cities to be part of this connexion to London, but the connexions between Manchester and Liverpool are very much of an another quality than the connexion between Manchester and London and for all connexions down the south it may be quicker to go via London than going via another town, even if geographically opposite.

Everything sort of revolves around London John: 18’ high speed rail has been… two sources of connectivity: connectivity of passengers and the connectivity of services, so shifting from classic rail to high speed, and we get that from France was easier. It’s interesting but you know in Paris if you want to come in and come out, and then change from classic rail to high speed rail, so you know, these are two things you need to think about… You then used the word accessibility but accessibility can be both about the ability to physically go and it can be the accessibility of the easy use modes, if it’s an open station instead of a closed statio, if it’s actually an open group of people that say yes to each other rather than always saying no to each other, that’s about being accessible, so I think that the word accessible is a very very important word, and we have to see it from the physical thing to the more abstract, and how we perceive it, and it’s actually door to door that we are talking about… So sorry I’ve got to go at about half 7…

Atilla: You know we’re talking more about connectivity between the train stations but I think it’s always about inside the station, and how they integrate the city and how you can connect from outside the city sometimes…

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4.0 | PROJECT APPENDICES Charles: So that’s maybe touching the point of permeability as well in terms of transition…

Nicholas: Very interesting point you raise in terms of best practices examples is stations being regarded as part of the inside functions of the city rather than piece of infrastructure on their own so you see the example of Saint Pancras: very successful, so it could be an interesting criteria from which to view stations as part of the city Camilla: Yeah I think this is actually a very interesting issue about, well when I was working at TfL we were trying to integrate Waterloo station as you know it is an absolute barrier to the communities from either side of it, and people living from one side find it very difficult to actually get to the river where the amenities are and stuff like that so we where thinking how to make the station permeable.

Very nice stations are those that sit in the city and they are very permeable, you don’t only get there for travelling, you just go through it or you may take advantage of the amenities… I saw a very nice station in Marseille… It’s a terminal station but it was really open, it has shops and it has places, so that was a very good example.

I think that you get two kinds of station and very often stations outside of cities are more transport inter changes and have a very singular function and are very inward looking and perhaps moving from one train to another transport mode, but they don’t really act as part of the city, whereas stations that are inside of the city can have a complete different relationship to the city and a very positive one.

Charles: That’s a great point and just before John goes I’d like to have a look at the second point here, which is about bad and good examples of connectivity both in conventional and high speed lines. So good example obviously Saint Pancras, but bad example on HS1: Ebbsfleet and Ashford, so do you think you

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John: Well this is interesting, like why does Ebbsfleet work, there would be easier places to put your money, they hadn’t really thought about, like to put efficient money into the infrastructure for the areas surrounded, actually I think Ebbsfleet is interesting because it works like a junction there that connects to the classic rail and you can do Javelin, just for that short pit, you get to the centre of London out to Ebbsfleet, so that cuts a huge amount of your journey so that was fantastic thing, that makes a huge amount of space where the high speed is taking out the pieces that were very very slow and that continue to use train on regular track.

So actually I would explore a bit more where junctions are.

Junctions, in rail terms get on and off and make the link between the high speed infrastructure and the classic infrastructure. By the way, you should really look at Saint Pancras and King’s Cross.

Saint Pancras was actually developed by HS1. King’s Cross was developed by network rail but they managed to overlap the way they use it. So the important thing is: who develop these things and the other thing is how is the adaptability in uses and the great thing about Saint Pancras is that it looks like a terminal station but it’s actually a through station cause it’s got Thameslink underneath which is critical.

Kieran: It’s really important to have around a station a public square for the community around…

Bright: In Rotterdam the station is amazing and they call it the city’s living room, they actually hold festivals and concerts in the station that divides the city into two. All the amenities are on the paid side but you don’t need a ticket to get through so the barriers are pretty much open all the time o you can actually use it to connect the city and the neighbourhood. So it’s kind of made like a public space Nicholas: About Piccadilly: it is a huge lump of annexes and heavy infrastructure. It’s fascinating for people like us but it does create a difficult environment. Another thing is that there’s been a huge investment from part of network rail: an increased number of destinations that you can reach from both stations, which is interesting in terms of junctions to look at.

Claudia: That’d be probably good for you to print maps of the stations and its area to see the land uses there and how well connected they are, are they walkable, are they some theatres around, the services, facilities: see what you can get in an area of 5 minutes walk around the station

So between Javelin and Thameslink to bring south to the river to the north, so the people have this new experience of what is London, so I think it’s really interesting stories you can pick up from that…

Kieran: Or how far you can get in 15 minutes, or an hour

Charles: So Saint Pancras is a great example of good connectivity, you’ve got the tube, national, international rail, but also thinking about the leisure opportunities, the shops… Where a station like Waterloo, even if it tries to make improvements is not quite there…

Charles: Bad connectivity: Manchester, acting as a bottle neck where trains have to reverse to go to Manchester Victoria, but in general, I think that everybody agrees that the northern rail network is pretty bad, last month some funding for that was announced, any opinions?

Camilla: It hasn’t overcome the issue of, that’s the sad thing, network rail, there was a scheme on the table to create a through passage, right way through the station, so anybody could use it…

That’s an interesting element as well: the paid side and non paid side: you need a ticket to get to the paid side which separates that kind of local people and the commuters. Stations that make mistake is when they put all the retail on the paid side. Whereas in Saint Pancras it’s all on the unpaid side, which makes it a place in itself for the non travellers.

Camilla: You can look at it as interchanges, in terms of places but also activities… At TfL we used to talk about interchange penalties, if it’s very hard to get from one infrastructure or mode to the other mode we will calculate this interchange penalty, is it inaccessible, are there levels, can you travel with suitcases, the opposite of that is the seamless journey, you’re not really aware that you change.

Charles: In London you have this PTAL map, that’d be so useful for Manchester

PROJECT APPENDICES Whereas if you have to get out of the station, cross the road to take a bus etc, that’s a really poor and negative interchange…

You can see specifically how it is between rail, to tube, bus, those connections are amazing in France, in a lot of places of London it’s not so good, you really struggle to find taxis or buses, even if it’s going to be better with the cross rail.

Atilla: In London you can check the terminals, Euston and King’s cross, used as a very important places… (says something about Birmingham and 3 stations) Camilla: the HS2 station: you will have to get out, it will be like many stations Lewis: What will be the outcome of your research, the purpose?

Michael: How are you going to measure it? Benchmark, comparing the stations?

Charles: What we put in: projects criterias, Outputs: short film on our experiences, an event, and another thing, get participation with an interactive drawing on the wall, almost like an installation, it could be a mix of different medias, kid of plaster all together, roughly following the route of the journey, but also translating any experience anyone may have.

That’d be a nice thing to get everyone thinking, involving the general public, and dissemination, to look at politics, not only from the urbanistic or architectural point of view, also Francesca that works for the Guardian.

Lewis:The economics of devolution, are incredibly complex, when I first saw this I thought is that it’d be difficult for you to draw any kind of conclusion that’d be more than anecdotal, but if you’re objective is educational, it can be sort of a documentary, instead of making you draw some serious recommendations.

Charles: I agree that a lot of people from the general public would like to know what the experience of HS rail is, and without losing the academic or design rigor, being able to translate it, so as they can draw their own conclusions

Camilla: A strand that’d be great is carbon emissions, your footprint on a journey like this and what the alternative route is, for instance Marseille to Manchester, your footprint on the plane. A few years ago people were flying from Paris to Marseille, which nobody would consider now, it would be nuts, longer, complicated, vs a very comfortable journey, so the relation to climate change is a stake that’s worth investing.

Julie: There’s an opposite movements: the HS is so expensive, controlling the cost is very important for the sustainability of train: affordability is important when you see the development of share car systems on the Internet Charles: Customer expectation is a key thing: on terms of cost, punctuality, services like print e ticket, technological advances, automated trains, ticketless gates etc… It’s crazy to think that some rails in the north are still not electrified.

Nicholas: You can’t compare Manchester to London, in terms of investment, Manchester just doesn’t get that level of investment.

I’m pro HS but for me there’s a romantic notion to get to the continent from Manchester, for example the argument for a long time has been reduced to the cost benefit, carbon emission, but I think I was more interested when reading your project about the experience in itself, not conceptual, less statistically driven argument for the HS. Charles: Idea of transparency, of accountability, public management, you can do something as long is it is justified, it’s been a shift, and even at local level in policy, people want to invest if you have quantitative justification for it and metrics. But we won’t worry about those elements on the trains Myriam: About the perception of connectivity: qualitative aspect: mental lapse, if you ask people which places they can go from a station, from a city, the correspondences, mental mapping?: the north is the north but the HS can change the perception of England

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Charles: Bright you said that 2 hours is the limit for business day trips, so of course there’ll be this differentiation of groups, like business man or women…

Camilla: Here we talk about connectivity but it’s actually also about timetable coordination, which in a lot of European cities is really good: you come in and you can expect that there will be a train to the city coming in a few minutes… So in London if you come to Manchester you need the right train to get to Paddington to get to Bristol, I mean it’s not thought of enough, we don’t considerate this enough… Timetable coordination is really important. I heard that there’s a manual for Europe that gathers all the timetables, for anywhere you go, apparently it’s a complete nightmare to update… That’d be good to figure out how long you need to get to one station to another one, I think it’s fantastic in terms of freedom, democratic movement… This is very important to get the maximum efficiency the network can make that kind of interchange seamless. You can either make it very efficient or not promote that efficiency by ignoring it ?: In England if you miss your train you can jump on the next one without paying (or does it say that it is in France? In france this is OK for local trains TER but on TGV you’d better not miss it!)

Claudia: I was wondering, aside of efficiency and in a more romantic way, how about the landscape, what you see outside, not for business but for leisure trips, in Switzerland people enjoy taking a slower train but that allows that seeing the landscape around.

Charles: That’s a very good point. Let’s move to the second section, to speculate about the connection between the rail and city regions and how it’s been historically understood. So cities were built around transports nodes which capture employment and wealth opportunities, so talking about raw materials etc, so you need transports, workers, that’s very true with Northen England, with the coal from Manchester and the harbour in Liverpool within the Industrial Revolution, but also in terms of conurbations how these cities have been linked in through rail…

So for instance Los Angeles is a combination of lots of different towns, and before the freeways dominated it was actually the electrified railways which liked on these placed and then the

freeways just paved over following the tracks, any opinion on that?

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4.0 | PROJECT APPENDICES Michael: It used to be true but I think that in the modern era you don’t need those connections really, look how LA is surviving, look at all those sun belt American cities, they survive in the modern era following certain choices, so I don’t think the rail is necessary any more Myriam: I have mapped yesterday the rail network of England, France and Germany just to prepare, and just looking at that you can locate the most important cities, I found that France is really centralised, I find it more difficult for the England probably because I know it least, maybe because there are many more companies and it’s less integrated…

Lewis: I think in the UK the network is very asymmetric and it reflects the power of different cities, so all lines go to London, it’s always easier to get to London, for instance if you wish to go from Oxford to Cambridge it’s a ridiculous journey on the bus, so it reflects the powers, cultural geography.

Lewis: I think in the UK the network is very asymmetric and it reflects the power of different cities, so all lines go to London, it’s always easier to get to London, for instance if you wish to go from Oxford to Cambridge it’s a ridiculous journey on the bus, so it reflects the powers, cultural geography.

Camilla: If you actually map Europe, the design for transport mode, you can map the most important cities and how they were connected, it’s probably the reflect of the political structures of the countries during that era, whereas in the UK you already had lots of successful cities, connected with the canal etc, so with the rise of the railway they all had to be connected. The complete flipside of that is when you go to Holland, where they said “well we need more residential area, well we’ll build the rail, the tram: we will build the infrastructure first and let this flourish”: so that’s a totally different approach where the rail has been the catalyst for a new city… I bet you could make amazing picture maps with that!

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Atilla: A good transport system is also about sustainability, bringing the carbon footprint of a country down, in this way it is also about create a new image for a city Charles: That’s a great point. Obviously in relation to Marseille it’s hard to see historically, the capital of Culture in 2013, Eurostar started running a service there, so we’ve got two dedicated services running to Marseille, when you talk about raising the image of the city, perhaps those two things are related indeed Nicholas: The comparison with Manchester is obviously interesting because they have similar size, Manchester is a real city region, Great Manchester is taking eight towns and two cities basically, it’s a great time also in terms of devolution because they’re able to take control of their transport, housing, etc, and they’re using their tram system, they’re very proud of it, they use it as an advert, they want to use it to bring growth Lewis: Does this section have to do with how national and interregional networks interact with local, city networks? Because in the city region you have a local government, it’s hard for them to impact of central government policy and nationally significant infrastructure, especially because so much of the tax revenue goes to central government. So here in terms of we’re not having a democrat view of the infrastructure, we have locally elected MPs that can’t influence it because it’s not a local policy and it’s difficult for the local councillors because the money is not getting back to them… high speed rail is in between the city regions, that’s their ownership and you have a power effect on how it affects the city regions CITY REGIONS | Charles: That’s the basis of our following point, I think when you talk about city region connection, the one North report, which I think you’re familiar with, is obviously this collaborative report from Manchester Liverpool Leeds and Newcastle, talking about how local transport can complement high speed rail, so HS is the national piece of infrastructure and the how it connects with local nodes, more creatively possible as well, because it’s probably more dependent of money, you won’t have too much funding there.

So the next point is what are city regions and what’s the definition of this model: a metropolitan area in hinterland, having but not necessarily a shared administration and I understand city regions on a policy level: place making, place leadership, asset or brand management of a place and we are in this situation where you don’t necessarily have the funding to build new infrastructure of new attraction, making your region very proud of its heritage to influence its future. It’s moving more to policy and localism in regards to devolution.

John: Yeah I’ve made my dissertation on devolution. City regions have been around since the 2000s as a policy model seen as the most efficient scale where you can have functional geographies where you can travel around and work, where you have a similar housing market for where people are moving in within a city area.

But it’s very difficult to define. Greater Manchester has been really easy because it’s kind of polycentric and the towns are of similar sizes, whereas it’s way more difficult for Greater Birmingham: we have three different cities, 4 different towns and they’re actually really struggling to create this identity politics and put in place this city region.

You can also say that West Midlands it’s going to be, 3 or 4 million people, with the mayor of Birmingham, and Coventry, and Roehampton, does that still give you a sense of local accountability and leadership, is it visible to integrate those areas that are very different… Whereas when you have a very strong local identity it’s easier, it makes sense.

Nicholas: Liverpool has a difficult relation to the city region idea, when in the 70s and 80s when the metropolitan councils where dissolved by Margaret Thatcher, Manchester got very pragmatic and got on with their local authorities with a voluntary agreement whereas Liverpool railed against the mews and with lots of political stories… That’s very interesting because they’re very close together and completely opposite in terms of approach to the city region. The Greater Liverpool area for instance could not even agree on a name, they ended up for an acronym of 8 letters long or something like that! That reflects the problems of identity the city regions can have

PROJECT APPENDICES Charles: So here we have the question of scale, this is one of the questions for the John Obsbourne has talked about the northern power house which we will comment on shortly, a lot of people are actually quite upset about this northern power house idea and they don’t want to be included, and see Manchester totally eradicate their sense of place of identity, what are your thoughts on identity? One of the key thing is the opposite between the south and the north, a landscape fracture, is it all about London or devolution?

Camilla: I think that Lille is an interesting city to look at on this: it used to be a provincial city and now it’s connected to Brussels, and London and Paris, the nexis of these railways lines, it seems to capitalize successfully on that, as well on terms of self belief and change John: There’s a need for strong local leaders to make that happen, in Manchester they have considered how to use the HS to rebrand themselves, skyscrapers etc… Whereas Nottingham and Leeds are king of waiting for the government to tell them what to do, so Manchester is maybe the best Julie: There’s a problem of short termism in politics, like this project of urban renewal: the central government protects this project by the law to avoid the local politicians to change the actions on and on, and set something for the long term, this is an act of central government to actually stabilize local action Camilla: An interesting thing about devolution and how that relates to rail: one of the problem of rail is the funding, at the moment the model in the UK is central funding and practice to analyse what HS means for them you’ll get lucky to be given the money to fund what you want to do but then devolution offers an alternative: if city regions can retain taxation that they raise locally then potentially they’ll have more flexibility about funding and how they finance – that’s one thing.

The other thing is: if they rely on the central government and they know they can’t rely on it, they could move towards other models like land value capture, and if they build rails for instance land value raises, so if you can tight on that with the whole funding package of what you want to do, a good example to look at is Vauxhall Nine Elms where the Northen line extension to Battersea is funded trough a mechanism that recognises that land values are raising they are borrowing the money on the basis that business rated will be collected over the next 30 or 40 years rather than hypothecate on that piece of infrastructure. “TIF” is the American term for… that’s Taxing Cremental Funding basically Atilla: They use it for Cross Rail 2?

Camilla: Yes there’s a couple of mechanisms, I think it’s 500 meters around a rail way station has to pay a precept on their business rate, or % which goes to fund the cross rail, and the other thing is the mayor: they pay the community levy infrastructure, they pay the silver centre and that goes to paying cross rail as well, that’s a subtle way but I think they are more subtle ways like in Nine Elms Atilla: That’s nice to compare between the UK and France, to make the stations work Bright: For the ITC Birmingham is still very disparate whereas Manchester is really working as representing all different cities and its core, Sheffield competing to be a city region then they can internationally compete with London, none of those cities really cares about the connection to London, but about the connexion to the continent and the other British cities Nicholas: That’s why Manchester and Leeds really want to develop local connections before all: they are 40 miles away but it takes an hour to get to the other city, whereas it’s easy to get 40 miles away from London in 25 minutes. That’s the can of things city regions are really excited about in terms of dynamics and investments?: I read in the newspapers that they spent 20 000 on lobby to relocate HS2 station between proposal 7 miles outside of city centre to the city centre (…)

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Nicholas: Piccadilly station is well positioned as the HS2 station in Manchester, the city was very proactive in defining where the station would be.

Charles: Let’s move to the next point. Councils and cities waiting to be instructed by the central government is a key thing but the Localism Act 2011; I think that’s what a lot of councils I think that what lots of councils didn’t realise is that actually gave a mandate for places to govern. I think that some places have been more proactive than others. Talking about retail value and land value there was a paper about the controversy on Euston station: the council is very keen to have 1900 units above de station concourse whereas HS2 are holding out still for a split layout design: where you have the classic rail and the HS rail below, I think that’s the design. You have this thing where local politicians want to release that part of Camden and develop it Claudia: You have a thing about urban culture, I don’t know if the leadership changes the face of Euston road, which is a highway in the middle of London, how can you capitalise the different leaderships on the built environment Charles: One of the key thing is that we go from Euston to Saint Pancras, that’ll be probably a bit stuck, but interesting to see how Saint Pancras is generally reinventing itself and that king of area Camilla: The government has abandoned any attempt to connect Euston and Saint Pancras, it’s just nuts, the train should be able to come from Paris or Brussels and go on the HS2, it’s just utterly crazy but thinking about leadership, the one way to make it happen is a global development strategy which London has with the London Plan but you know there’s no national development strategy which some people think we should have but you know those plans are important for the other city regions to define where you want to be in 20‐30 years time, a shopping centre being at the right place etc, which is very easy in London, because of the clarity of the London Plan. In these other cities they don’t have this broad development thinking that is an issue for levering out the benefits on HS rail. In France there’s a much clearer vision on where you want to go, everything in Britain seems to make plans stop!

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4.0 | PROJECT APPENDICES Nicholas: Thinking back to the devolution, GLA and TfL have started obligations to two plans whereas at the city regional level until recently there were no obligations towards your local authority borough. One of the axis of Greater Manchester is that they can act on planning, housing etc and actually look cross boundaries and give some weight in the planning system Claudia: You compare the local strategy around this railway stations to each other, I know that the Spanish planning system is very very prescriptive; it’d be interesting to compare what plans involve for surrounding areas in Manchester etc . For instance in Barcelona they masterplan the whole city. They do not design building but they have a very clear view of the land uses and the densities. In the UK the planning system, is “lose” its , one difficult…

Lewis: One of the fantastic things about TfL and the GLA is give to very talented people the power to do great stuff. One of the noticeable report from HS2 was that it argued that the poor quality of statistics of DFT was roughly passengers numbers roughly accounted from the 1990s! (laughs). If DFT can’t do that…

I mean, those people exist they can do that! In the political set up it’s clearly not happening. I think it touched public space at a more local level, central government does not seem to have the capability of doing the development case, and local government does not have the resources to be that prescriptive. My question is, if it’s not happening now, what must change in the way we govern our country? In terms of civil infrastructure. Also the law’s report (?) it’s kind of, HS2 came out independent of any infrastructure strategy to let use roads, ports, airports, that seems like the first work that needs to be done, I mean, to develop that strategy. Agin it’s not happening Camilla: The interesting thing when you say “how do we make it happen”, it happened in London, because there was an act of the Parliament with the GLA saying “the GLA and TfL will do this”.

So if you are in a devolved process you required of the other cities to put their acts together and create their vision.

Nicholas: The statutory mechanism for devolution is that: you have planning power and you have to produce your plans. Like it works with compulsion, if you have to do it by law, you produce a plan. The compulsion is key.

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DEVOLUTION | Charles: Excellent, a little bit behind schedule… Final point then is second cities and devolution, obviously we are touching thing as we go, to speculate on the devolving power of HS rail.

This might be controversial, but what is a second city? Because obviously we’ve picked two here that are not universally agreed upon. One the one hand you have population, on the other hand you have economic productivity which is kind of GDP and also, Birmingham has been historically understood as a second city, and has actually the biggest authority outside of London, in terms of GDP, it’s pretty crushing (laughs), but I’m kind of making the point for Manchester, recognised also as an urban gateway, to the North, particularly regarding as a neighbouring cities and the potential for connectivity between them. Likewise with France, Lyon is probably considered as the general second cities, but again Marseille is having this sort of Renaissance at the moment with these two high speed lines, and you can also see it as a gateway to the Riviera beyond… What do you think?

Michael: I think you can talk about second cities in terms of quantitative measures, but in terms of more cultural outputs, and brand awareness you can definitely make the case for Manchester and Marseille because they have that cultural output, with culture, music, football and the general recognition that comes with that. If you integrate those cultural factors the case of Manchester and Marseille is very obvious and more interesting than just considering Birmingham and Lyon as business centres.

Kieran: It’s interesting to see the dynamic of second cities: I mean in the 20th century it was alternatively Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Norwich, or Bristol. It looks that it will be Manchester in the 21st century. Manchester used to be industrial, now it’s becoming 3rd sector oriented, for instance in education, while some cities will struggle more with converting their economies.

Claudia: But does it have to be only one‐second city?

Julie: But this is why the second city is a problematic of centralised State isn’t. If you look at a country like Germany, you don’t really have this question of what is the second city really. This is why the comparison between France and the UK is interesting, because they’re both very centralised States

Nicholas: You have to understand that a city like Manchester, even being a second city, they operate on a totally different level from London, there’s no point comparing them on that scale, that’s why it’s better comparing Manchester and Marseille.

London and Manchester just do different things Camilla: Manchester has the character to galvanize the North. If London can say “we are the South or South East”, Manchester can say “we are the Northen people” and actually create an identity around that.

Nicholas: It’s terrifically unlikely (laughs), the thing about the south and north divide is you cannot talk about the “north” as a unity: my version of the North with central Manchester is very different from someone that grew up in Newcastle or in Glasgow or even in Birmingham, because in some way that’s also part of the North. So saying that the South and the North is a dichotomy is kind of misleading… The idea of the North power house is how to make all of these very proud and strong cultural identities work together.

Camilla: Well rather than having the dichotomy you could come out with saying that the South is monocentric and the North is actually polycentric and each one of these centres has its own character and it’s the melange that makes it interesting.

Then Manchester is not the second city: each of these cities are their second tierce cities.

Bright: I think that point is perfectly illustrated in this picture: as you can see there is London, and up north it’s polycentric.

Charles: I think we can think of the example of Holland: you have there 4 individual very strong cities working collectively.

So what’s the second city in Holland, or what’s the third, the fourth… I mean again when you actually have in a place such a concentration it makes it even more interesting Atilla: Well Amsterdam is the first city, Rotterdam is just after.

The other cities want to compete with Amsterdam, they cannot really, Amsterdam has the airport of course and the majority of businesses, and also again connectivity as well, Rotterdam has the port of course but still it’s very different in its economy to Amsterdam, it’s a different kind of affection I think

PROJECT APPENDICES Patrick: Maybe in the UK the second cities is not that important, I mean it’s not that important to know which is the second city. Birmingham is relatively close to London; on a Virgin train to takes hat, an hour and a half? It’s actually close. Whereas if you want to choose a city that’s a little bit further away, I think Manchester is the next best stop, still not too close to London.

So I think in that sense Manchester is the perfect candidate, so forget about what I just said (laughs) Charles: Indeed Birmingham and Lyon are more inland, we also mentioned Rotterdam as a port… I’m going to travel to Liverpool, which has an historical importance economically and in terms of passengers, likewise is Marseille. I think that if there are many many definitions of what is a second city, if you integrate culture, economics etc, I think these two are justified choices really.

Michael: I think that some cities will be chosen upon others.

What’s really interesting about Liverpool is that it’s right beside Manchester, and they’re equally distant from London, they have good train connection, but Manchester was chosen… One of the arguments against Sheffield’s inner city station for the HS2 is that it would cut down 6 minutes to get to Leeds. So you see Sheffield sort of change in favour of Leeds. So in the process, you’re picking sort of three second cities: Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds. Those difference will be grown by the time given those high speed connections.

Charles: That’s really interesting, second last point: what’s devolution and how can it be measured? We have the Localism Act, the increased number of elected mayors, you had something a couple of years ago: the elected police commissioners, it think it recorded the lowest turn up of voters nationally ever recorded, that’s interesting. And also the big number of referendums. So again putting it into the local context the idea of referendums, we’ve been promised by this government that we would go on the poll about Europe, we had referendum last year on Scotland, devolution is it a real product of this tile linked to transparency, accountability? I know that Julie has been looking at the idea of devolution in France and you ind of explained that there are two concept Julie: Indeed. There is decentralisation (devolution) and “déconcentration”. Deconcentration is when the central State has delegates on the territory, the central State is geographically closer to territories. Décentralisation is like devolution, you transfer to power to an elected local authority Claudia: So regions in France have their own taxes?

Julie: Yes but not all of the taxes, you have different layers of local taxes (city, department, regional) plus national taxes. One of the biggest reclaim is of course the local powers want more devolved taxes as a financial levy.

John: It is indeed damaging in a way, many people see Manchester as being the “chosen child” that gets all the devolution, and it seems that it’s getting all the devolution whereas everybody should be able to do some devolution, some cities that were not chosen

Lewis: What proportion of local taxes is retained locally on average in France?

Charles: That’s the irony of devolution: who gets the power?

Bright: That’s really hard to ask for leadership from the local authorities is they don’t have the resources nor the funding to take on the powers

Nicholas: I think there’s the idea that policy interests will emerge in a very piecemeal kind of British way to devolution and that this polycentricity that we consider as positive will emerge.

But it’ll be 20‐30‐40, 50 years of effort. This idea of policentricity is not an easy headline to set. I think the Greater Manchester and the Northen power house is an easy image to start with, but we have to consider that it will take lots of time

Julie: It’s not a lot really, it’s definitely more than In England but to have a strong local leadership you need more taxes.

Charles: With regards to devolution I think communication is really important as well. A lot of people don’t know what they’re capable of doing; whereas obviously Manchester did again this goes back to central government.

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There’s this movement reforming Whitehall, claiming there are too many bureaucrats there, the system is not working very efficiently and that’s tided in the spirit of the Localism Act, so again with regards to ocal and national governement it’s a case of miscommunication on all levels.

Claudia: Is it your idea to find through your journeys some clues about these two measures: second cities and devolution, are you aiming at finding something in your journey that aims at this? Or is it something different Charles: That’s fundamental, it will depend on how cooperative the people are, but the idea is meeting people, knowing what they think, just get someone talking, I don’t want to be too heavy or quantitative about this but knowing if the general public is aware of those stakes about devolution, how it impacts them, why do they make the trips etc. It’s probably too difficult to quantify as a direct output Atilla: Are you going to do a research?

Charles: That’s where the kind of drawing comes in as well, mapping the area and the station, is there a chance where people could contribute to that, it’s obviously a mix of media and ideas and that’s the beauty of it but we’d like to get some keys, get the people bringing some change, structuring things physically, the people will come that pick up some elements. If people are willing to contribute, the idea is not sitting down and write a massive thesis about the subject…

We have different phases, the research, getting as much as good information as possible, then the journey, we can make informed observations about what we experienced, and obviously the last phase is the outputs. I think we’re out of time! So to finish, thanks so much for coming, I’m so positively surprised, thanks Bright to organise everything!

Bright: Thank you very much for coming

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4.1 | PHASE 2 INTERVIEW Phase 2 Interview – Transcript | Journey 4 - Manchester to London, Dave Parker interview |

Because obviously in France they have a really established High Speed Rail network, it became established sorta 20-30 years ago.

Which makes you think like, why’s this such a big deal.

Charles Critchell CC Dave Parker DP

DP: Exactly! On the […] went to the continent on that

CC: Is that based on your background, y’know obviously in IT?

DP: Oh it was fantastic. And at the time, (also the company were paying of course, so it was even better!), it was something that ‘aaah, this is a bit different, this is goood’. And you understand why they do it. When they had the technology, like, the solar panels on the railway sidings and they used that technology, and they didn’t jump back technology and say ‘oh we’re going to produce a train so it must have six or eight wheels. […] alright, so they use the same […] but they used innovation and they thought, whats the wow factor? How do we get people wanting to come on these things? And, its a bit like the first time I went on an airplane.. I wanted to go on an airplane because it was [cool?] y’know, y’know. So, ‘ere we are in Britain, and they’re going to tempt us with a ‘High Speed Train’ that goes from A to B as quickly as possible and forget all the regional places anyway. To me, and only me- I’ll be honest with you.. it’s daft. An investment ought to be put to some public transport.

DP: I used to build systems for … and the last thing we want to do is bring to the table something that our competitor can do, you want to come up with something you can sell. It’s like, y’know apple, they’re always coming out with some great innovation, thats how they got that way…

CC: Market leading.. basically yeah?

DP: …so theres England, with its political democracy, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that.. and and what do we do? We come out, we’re going to invest billions and trillions or whatever, coz.. by the time the big bill comes in it’ll far out strip what ever we think it’ll cost.

CC: yeah, yeah…

DP: We could have used that money in research and development, to get where we’re going in the future. There’s enough science fiction authors to put the seeds of an idea of what transport might be like…

CC: Bit of imagination.

DP: bit of flare CC: Well this is what I’ve been looking into as part of it, I mean, I’m actually doing this.. I don’t know whether I’ve shown you this… you might find this interesting. Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to read all of this! It’s just an image… [shows the plan of the project and trip] So I’m doing ten rail journeys in the next 3 days, so I’ve come up from London; I’m going up to Manchester; and I went across to Liverpool; back to London now obviously; across to Paris today and down to Marseille this

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CC: Oh really, how was that?

CC: I mean, the North is really lacking, I mean obviously so much of it isn’t electrified, and…

DP: I mean, its not just that. From what I see of it, it’s quite good.

But it’s the concept of using old technology, and tipping a vast amount of money into it.

CC: And is it..?

DP: It’s old technology, it runs on something that’s already been created. It runs from A to B very very fast, but I want to go to Z. So when I get to B I’ve got to get on a bus or a taxi, thets going to get delayed in lots of traffic. So I can’t get to that place I really want to go.

CC: That’s brilliant that you say that, because thats another one of the things I’m looking into is the onward connectivity. So thats what I was doing in Manchester yesterday was testing out like the tram system, and stuff like that. And the legibility and how easy it is to use.

I’m coming over and looking into kind of rail infrastructure and urbanism now and just its a fascinating area. obviously trying to see, I mean some of the cases for High Speed Rail, I’m kind of undecided as yet. I mean I’m just interested in it obviously the whole thing about it devolving power, you know, you must have heard about this Northern Powerhouse narrative, do you think its a whole load of bull?

DP: It’s just politics, just political slogans. It’s for politicians who have to get into power in 5 years time, because they’ll lose their jobs if they don’t say the right things now. So, so, what do I really care?? What I really care about is how do I get from A to B as comfortably as possible and is B the right destination that I want to go to? Not just ‘a city’ ‘down south’ or ‘in the north’.

CC: Do you think its pretty much just that black and white almost? In terms of, with regards to France and their network?

DP: Why do I get on a train? Because I want to get from here, to over there. But if I get a High Speed Train, what am I doing, who’s going to drive me from Stoke to Manchester ten minutes faster.

If I want to go from Stoke to Oldham, say perhaps, So I’ll go to Manchester and I’ll go ‘ooo there goes a train!’ and I’ll have to wait for a connection which is a killer killer killer. So I think you’ve got to get the brains and the engineers the people that we have got…

CC: …So we need to take say, this multi-modal approach.

Extending the kinda line almost, so that you can get to the other places that you can only get to with secondary connections that are much slower.

DP: The argument is ‘but you’re always entering this bottleneck’.

So why put all the money in to somewhere I don’t really want to go. The centre of a city is only interesting to travel from London or another city to spend a day in, but if I’m a commuter and I work in.. wherever it is, is it gunna be any benefit to me? And you just tell me that you spent billions on it.. and its gunna be years of disruption? I’d prefer it if you get the universities to sink their teeth into it… get the designers and innovators to actually do some work on it and come up with a solution.

PHASE 2 INTERVIEW CC: Y’know this is one of the interesting things about it, you’re looking at the working economies of the north and south.. it’s not quite that, but y’know London is sort of more financial and services, whereas one of the things about the north is technology and start ups and science- you look at the strength of Manchester university, and its about its research, thats its strength. Rather than saying we’re gunna give high speed rail and thats going to devolve power to the north, can the north not be instrumental in doing it?

DP: The norths got to harness the culture of the north. The north has got to design something, thats fit for purpose for the 21st century. Not thats fit for was fit for purpose and forefront of innovation in the 19th century. Y’know, we gotta pull our thumb out and sink the money where it ought to go. Its like when we first stared off in the industrial revolution, the first thing we said was ‘planning’ we can’t ever do too much planning. But our politicians, and the people that actually get the money from these projects don’t think about the planning till they’re half way through and then decide we can’t cut through that rock. So we should make them swallow the pill and say ‘planning’s’ the thing and y’know, lets start planning for the future. And that’s what I see that needs to happen. I’m a bit radical sometimes…

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CC: It does seem like that DP: I’m very biased! [laughs] Just say if you don’t agree with this!

CC: No no. I want to hear what people have to say, having worked in policy a little bit before- I know that they’ll sit round a table and come up with an idea and go ‘well that looks good’ on paper, they’ll do a massive document on it.. they’ll release it to great accolades with the planners and everything, then they’ll file it away.. and it doesn’t touch the sides.

DP: They want a safe discussion because they don’t want to make a dick of themselves. They want a quick safe thing, they want to go away and present it as all tied up! [ joking] so the idea is they should get retired people, lots of retirees and say ‘what do YOU think about this? and most of them’ll say ‘well its all bit silly’!!!

CC: No! I’s refreshing because I held a roundtable last week with about 15 people, some from transport for London, some people from.. y’no, borough councils and stuff like that and no-one has even put forward this idea of a ‘future technology’. It’s not even been mentioned, its kind of this or nothing…

DP: They’re scared of the money. They’re scared of, the politicians that is, are scared of telling the voters ‘we’re thinking of new modes of transport, but we don’t really know what we’re doing’. And people going down the pubs and going ‘waste of bloody money’ CC: Well y’know what I think in the last five years, with this coalition government there’s been this drive towards greater accountability and transparency, and its almost like- thats why we’re using a proven technology, it can’t be argued against.

Whereas if you start ploughing money into research, what are the tangible outputs? Even though it might be the right thing to do..

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