The Rampart, The Traffic Artery, and the Park; Designing for the city regions of Antwerp

1.1
De Grote Verbinding
On the project that is going to complete the ring of Antwerp
and change the interaction between the city and its suburbs.
In the upcoming years, Antwerp is going to rebuilt its city highway; the Ring of
Antwerp, in a multi-million-euro project. In this project that is going to span the
next ten to fifteen years, Antwerp wants to tackle the large congestion problem
that plagues the city. The current highway ring that circumferences three-quarters
of the city, will be completed through the controversial Oosterweel-Link.
A completion that will also mark a change in the city’s modal split; car- and
freight traffic will be guided around the city in a large curve, and travel to the
city itself will be nudged to public transport and (E-) bicycle.
Parallel to the completion of the ring, most of the highway will be
refurbished – intersections simplified, more bridges between city and suburb,
and measures to contain the noise- and air pollution. On the long term, the
ambition is to cover most of the ring under a green canopy; a highway cap.
A canopy that should increase the air quality and climate resilience of the city,
and connect the several loose green patches along the track of the highway.
Additionally, the covering of Antwerp’s ring should facilitate the refocus of urban
development from the peripheral areas, to the vicinity of the ring, creating
a defined façade for the city as well as its suburbs. Thereby stimulating the participation
of Antwerp’s suburbs in the metropolitan system, and changing the
relation between city and suburb. The largest changes, however, are reserved
for the left bank of Antwerp, for the district ‘Linkeroever’. A district that, after
completion of the Ring, could finally become an integral part of Antwerp.
This chapter will elaborate on the goal, the changes, and the effects
that the project ‘De Grote Verbinding’ will have on Antwerp and its suburbs,
and how the relationship between the former and the latter, and the city and
Linkeroever, could change as a result.
Over de Ring
What started as the ‘Over de Ring-project’ in November of 2016, with the
ambition memo ‘Over de ring, samen naar een aantrekkelijke metropool’,
has at the start of 2020 been dubbed ‘De Grote Verbinding’. Between 2017
and 2018, the different facets of the projects have been elaborated by six
design teams in consultation with the citizens of Antwerp and several stakeholders,
like the Flemish government, the municipality, the harbour, several
citizen movements, Lantis 1 and the intendant. 2 This has led to 18 ‘liveability
1.
Lantis (Leefbaar Antwerpen door
Innovatief Samenwerken) is the new
name of the Beheersmaatschappij Antwerpen
Mobiel (BAM); the government
company that is going to oversee the
construction of the ‘Oosterweel-Link’.
(Gazet van Antwerpen, 2019)
2.
The intendant is a position appointed
by the Flemish government to
oversee a certain project. Since
2018, professor Alexander D’Hooghe
has been appointed Intendant voor
de leefbaarheidsmaatregelen in de
Antwerpse Ringzone. He and his team
are to oversee the design process and
execution of the 18 highway cap and
liveability projects (Gazet van Antwerpen,
2018).
18