Transformation Processes of Large Railway Stations in Europe: when Urban Quality is directly related to positional value

Nowadays, the railway transportation system of many European cities has been undergoing a process of renewal accompanied by extensive urban transformation: not simple adaptations of the stations to the new technologies, but rather real changes in the functional layout of the entire neighbourhood in the vicinity of the railway buildings. Thus, in some cases, the station has become a basic structural element in a city district in a state of transformation resulting in its progressive integration into the city centre, from which originally it had been excluded. The peculiar nature of railway stations and their neighbouring areas (i.e. the great added value due to their accessibility and attractive capacity, as well as the consolidated profitability of the activities that are, or can be, established in the area) is an element of convergence of different (public and private) interests as concerns the different transformation hypotheses. This work intends to investigate, on a quality level, the transformation processes of railway stations, paying particular attention to the aspects related to urban strategies, the relationship between accessibility, mobility and utilisation density, financial feasibility and the consequent increase in value