Handbook on High-Speed Rail and Quality of Life

Abstract

Asia needs high-quality infrastructure development projects, such as high-speed rail, to drive economic growth and improve quality of life in the region.

In addition to meeting the rapidly growing demand for high-quality infrastructure, researchers, policy makers, and all stakeholders must consider its implications and contributions to the overall enhancement of quality of life.

Handbook on High-Speed Rail and Quality of Life outlines global experiences of high-speed rail development, including its construction, impacts, and planning, with a special focus on countries that are planning implementation in the coming decade. High-speed rail infrastructure can bring considerable socioeconomic benefits that cannot be captured through econometric modeling alone. Thus, analysis of the true impacts requires a scalar as well as a temporal lens. The studies in this handbook discuss transport infrastructure projects of varying geographic scale and describe the underlying complexities of developing an infrastructure system while focusing on the aspects that can enhance quality of life.

Keywords: Economics, Transport, Urban development