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Facchinetti-Mannone,Valérie.

Finally, with the gradual trivialization of high-speed rail, the new mobility practices associated
with the gain in accessibility go hand in hand with the slow implementation of the economic
and urban projects linked to the HSR station and the territorial integration of the new transport
supply.

During these three phases, appropriation has evolved; the conflictual, dialogical and identity
facets of the process get organized into a different hierarchy according to the temporalities of
each project and the specificities of each territory. The conflictual dimension, often predominant
during the gestation of the project, is gradually replaced by the dialogic facet during its
implementation, and then gives way to the identity dimension once the commissioning of the
high-speed line is completed. Nevertheless, these three components of appropriation occur to
varying degrees of intensity depending on the geographical context. The methodological approach
that I have chosen aims to identify and to explain these different forms of territorialization.

Fig. 2: Evolution of appropriation according to the different stages of the HSR project

3.2 Evolution of the appropriation mechanisms of high-speed rail stations

Because the analysis grid designed by Brunel and Roux emphasizes the recursive dimension of
the process, it seems to be relevant to understand how the appropriation of high-speed rail has
developed (see fig. 2).

The first mentions and the slow emergence of the HSR project correspond to a pre-appropriation
phase when imagination construes reality and elaborates desire (Brunel and Roux, 2006). Faced
with the possibility of a high-speed rail service, some territorial actors inquire about the project
and become imbued with it. They start to interpret the potential renewal of accessibility that
may be brought by high-speed rail system, in various ways according to their expectations or
fears. By a kind of symbolic deciphering (Brunel and Roux, 2006), pre-appropriation participates
in the formalization of the desire for a railway station: the territorial actors begin to consider the
most favorable location of the station to realize their aspirations. During the slow maturation of
the project, the multiplication of studies and consultations marks the gradual transition to the
pre-acquisition appropriation stage which contributes to the recognition and identification of
the Object of Desire (Brunel and Roux, 2006). Until the layout of the high-speed line has been
chosen, the successive studies which confront the project with the territorial specificities allow
to improve the knowledge of the project. Appropriation becomes learning, thus contributes
to the gradual identification of the project with the territory. The desire for a HSR station
is transformed into a particular project, and high-speed rail is gradually integrated into the
territorial development project.

Established by the Bianco circular, the public debate, which offers local actors the opportunity to
express their opinions about the project imagined by the transport operator, is today a highlight

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