Multicriteria analysis of a high-speed railway station area development project

The introduction of high-speed trains in the Netherlands has led to the design of the so-called New Key Projects (Nieuwe Sleutelprojecten, NSPs) whose aim is to capitalise on the synergy effects that may exist between railway network improvements and urban redevelopment by applying the compact city concept. In this chapter the largest of such New Key Projects, the South Axis project, takes a central position as a case study; it constitutes a massive investment in housing, offices and infrastructure in the southern district of Amsterdam. It is believed that a variety of effects are associated with these investments. The Dutch government and the Municipality of Amsterdam, for example, proposed these investments in railway infrastructure in order to reduce car mobility and promote more environmentally friendly transport modalities (see also Newman and Kenworthy 1989a; 1989b; Newman 1992). Furthermore, knowledge-based business services may benefit from economies of scale or scope by clustering around such clients as large financial institutions or their competitors. Finally, by having the goal of compact land use at high densities, open space and farmland at this location may be protected against ongoing urbanisation (De Roo and Miller 2000).