German Marshall Fund fellow Eric Eidlin guest hosts the podcast this week for a discussion of French high-speed rail and cities. Joining Eric are Stephan de Fay, executive director of Bordeaux Euratlantique, the public agency overseeing the redevelopment of Bordeaux’s main train station to accommodate several new high speed rail lines by 2020, and Etienne Tricaud, president and CEO of AREP, the French railway’s architecture office.

As France develops its high-speed rail network, the areas around stations are treated not just as transportation initiatives but as city-building projects. The discussion centers on how public agencies plan high-speed rail station areas in France, integration of the stations into districts as a whole, and the importance of a comprehensive vision for integrating transportation and land use in the station district. Stay tuned for part two, coming next week.