Peter Hall: Inspirer and Innovator of Railways and Regions

摘要

This paper draws on my personal experiences and observations of Professor Sir Peter Hall to illustrate Peter's contribution to and concerns about issues that were less well-documented elsewhere. This paper, which has five parts, is mainly concerned with the past six years, which I spent as a PhD student and later as a colleague of Peter's until his death. The first analyses Peter's influence on my PhD research on the impacts of high-speed rail investment. The second demonstrates how Peter disseminated and engaged research findings in HSR policy-making through media coverage, wide professional and political networks, and in cooperation with local actors. Section three describes Peter's continuing commitment to addressing widening regional inequality in the case of Blackpool, initially as a chairman of the ReBlackpool Urban Regeneration Company and later as the leader of the EU SINTROPHER project. In section four, I show how, apart from his optimism, foresight, and enthusiasm in cities, his working philosophy and his view of the key elements which characterize a planner make him a role model for younger academics to look up to. In the final section I discuss his influence on my future development.