Agencing historic major railway stations for the EU rail market : a comparative analysis of the embeddedness of competition principles into the planning and the management of London St Pancras, Paris Nord and Milano Centrale stations ; L'agencement des grandes gares historiques pour le marché ferroviaire européen : analyse comparée de l'intégration des principes concurrentiels dans l'aménagement et la gestion des gares de London St Pancras, Paris Nord et Milano Centrale

This research in urban planning and studies analyses the interaction between major historic railway stations and the logics of the European rail market. Interferences between the market principles and those of the planning and the management of transport places are an issue that requires new concepts to understand how do major historic railway stations evolve in our time. This research applies mehods developed in the field of economic sociology, especially on markets, and compares three cases: London St Pancras, Paris Nord and Milano Centrale stations. The first part of this dissertation presents the different forms of embeddedness (historical, cultural, institutional and social) that implement competition principles into the planning and the management of railway stations. A long-term diachronical approach of each case is presented. The second part of the dissertation uses the theoretical approach of market agencing developed by Michel Callon in the fields of economic sociology and of science and technology studies. Three ways of agencing railway stations are analysed: agencing the essential facility, agencing the real estate asset and agencing the “market square facility” – a new kind of market square especially developed in transit places. This dissertation shows how economic rationalisation frames railway stations as far as those infrastructures frame this economic rationalisation in return. It invites us to consider the process of economisation of space as a key part of planning practices ; Cette thèse en urbanisme et aménagement analyse les interactions entre les grandes gares historiques et les logiques du marché ferroviaire européen. L'interférence entre les principes du marché et ceux de l'aménagement des lieux de transport invite à mobiliser de nouveaux concepts pour présenter l'évolution des grandes gares historiques dans une perspective contemporaine. Pour ce faire, il est proposé d'utiliser les méthodes de la sociologie économique des marchés et de comparer trois terrains: la gare de St Pancras à ...