1. The station: history, evolution, typology

1.1 Railway stations at the heart of urban and transport history

Since its emergence in the mid-19th century, the railway station has spoken to us of society's relationship with the space in which it takes shape. Its history is the result of three parallel, mutually nourishing developments: science and technology, social practices, and the city and its living environment.

The last great technological revolution, which profoundly transformed social practices and the spatial organization of cities, was that of mechanized mobility. Passenger rail transport began to develop in Europe in the mid-19th century, and elsewhere in the world in the 20th century, gradually linking all major conurbations and then irrigating the entire territory.

...