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Facchinetti-Mannone,Valérie.

une quête identitaire » 2 (Cova et Cova, 2001), appropriation is a dynamic process derived
2
from complex systems of interdependence (Fischer, 2011) between the possessive, adaptive
and identity dimensions of the notion.
By its possessive dimension, appropriation is first a conflictual process in which social actors
are confronted with a certain number of constraints (Fischer, 2011), which they have to take
into account and even to surpass. Analyzed from the angle of the power relationships expressed
by struggles for the appropriation of places, from the territorial marking of individuals and
groups or from the oppositions between the design logic and the user’s (De Certeau, 1990;
Perriault, 1989), this underlying conflictual dimension is an essential key to understanding the
appropriation process of high-speed rail. Even if the strategies of appropriation adopted by
the territorial actors of intermediate cities remain subject to the supra-territorial logics of
transport operators, they have revealed that some territories have succeeded in reversing the
logic prescribed by the railway operator to serve their own expectations while others have not
been able to derive the expected benefits although they have obtained a rail service. Because
these different "appropriative trajectories" vary according to the spatial and temporal contexts
of the location of HSR stations, they invite us to revisit the actors’ interactions occurring during
the choices of the location of stations and the implementation of development strategies.

Beyond the diversity of the topics and scientific fields, many research studies have also underlined
the dialogical dimension of the appropriation process which involves continuous, progressive
and mutual adjustments (Orlikowski, 1996), according to a recursive logic (Brunel and Roux,
2006) between the adaptation of the subject and the modification of the object. As regards
urban public places, P. Serfaty has shown that the user adjusts to the function of the place
throughout his routine practices which gradually change the sense of place (Korosek-Serfaty,
1988). Based on the Adaptive Structuration Theory developed by De Sanctis and Poole (1994)
from A. Gidden’s work (1987), this interactionist approach proves relevant to investigate the
appropriation of high-speed rail stations and to understand the renewal of territorial structures
in connection with the changes in the transportation system. Because it is gradually taking shape
in the relation to its object (Jouet, 2000), appropriation takes part in the spatial structuration
and the emergence of new territorial dynamics. These greatly contingent territorial changes are
the result of a process in which territorial actors interpret the changes introduced by the new
transport supply, adapt them to their expectations and incorporate them into their practices,
thus modifying the characteristics of the transport supply and the values that it conveys. In the
course of interactions, this dual mechanism of adaptation affects the general territorial system
which in turn changes the functionalities of the new transportation supply and the actions and
representations of local actors, explaining the wide variety of territorial dynamics generated
by projects yet designed according to the same logic.
Finally, appropriation constitutes an identity process. Social sciences have thus largely proved
that the property of objects, the assimilation of knowledge or the acquisition of experiences
have contributed to shaping the identity of individuals. By extension, high-speed rail appears
to be an "identity referent" (Brunel and Roux, 2006). The integration to the HSR network
doubly contributes to the building of territorial identity. On the one hand, the improvement
of accessibility and the modern image linked to high-speed rail change the way the territory
belongs to the world and increase its visibility on a national scale and on a European one, as
shown by the renewal of the architecture of train stations or the territorial marketing strategies
adopted by the cities and regions that have recently joined the “Club of HSR cities”. On the
other hand, high-speed rail changes the way local actors consider their territory; the new
transportation supply becoming, through appropriation, a medium for territorial identity.

2 [Translation: “the confrontation of two potentialities: one of a world presenting things that can be appropriated by an
individual, and the capacity of this same individual to appropriate objects and spaces in an identity quest”].

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