DESIGNING TERRITORIAL METABOLISM

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CAR (RE)CYCLE IN BUDA
Davide Cauciello, Studio Geoffrey Grulois, and Nadia Casabella (ULB)
BUDA AREA—GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
The old industrial territory of Buda is undergoing an important process of
regeneration. The economic importance of Buda derives from its situation at the
juncture between Brussels and Vilvoorde and next to large-scale transportation infrastructure—the
canal to Antwerp and the highway. Buda is an exchange platform
between Flanders and Brussels and, on a bigger scale, between Europe and Belgium.
The territory is clearly delimitated by transportation lines: railways, roadways
and waterways give Buda clear boundaries but also set many limits. In terms of land
use, the old industrial urban fabric has given way to several controversial largescale
projects: UPlace Mall, Bpost Mass Center, and Roll-On/Roll-Off Terminal along
the canal. The industrial mono-functionalism of Buda has led to a lack of pu blic
spaces and programmatic diversity.
URBANITY THROUGH THE VOID
“If a place can be defined as relational, historical, and concerned with identity,
then a space that cannot be defined as relational, or histo rical, or concerned with
identity will be a non-place” (Augé, 1992).
Within the industrial urban fabric of Buda, the main function of the streets
is to connect companies. The space between these companies allows functional
requirements to be met but generates functional tensions and a lack of interfaces
for the public.
These lines of tension between public and private are not currently generating
urbanity or interactions. They are mostly materialized by a fence that defines
the limit between the public space—the street—and a huge empty private space
dedicated to storage and to loading trucks.
Furthermore, some vacant buildings offer serious opportunities to diversify
activities into a generic industrial urban fabric.
VISION FOR URBAN REGENERATION
Our main intention is to decrease territorial mono-functionalism and to
diversify activities. The lack of public space and public facilities in this “market
economy” (Johnson, 2005) model of a “city” generates a lack of urbanity typical of an
industrial territory in transition. The proposal to upgrade the former industrial urban
fabric suggests that activities be diversified and integrated into several strategic
installations and facilities. Manufacturing industries, sport facilities, cultural installations,
and public spaces are some examples of uses we can think of. By bringing
these activities together, we could develop a new urban complexity and supersede
the mono-functional land use.
Workers and residents of Buda, two opposite but still complementary flows,
could converge into these integrated facilities.