The Rampart, The Traffic Artery, and the Park; Designing for the city regions of Antwerp
Through a close reading of Antwerp’s current spatial and socio-economic composition, and the introduction of the interplay between the city’s three defining paradigms – abstracted to ‘The Rampart, the Traffic Artery, and the Park’ – this study tries to sketch a unifying strategy for Antwerp’s metropole. A strategy that embeds residential, economic, cultural, recreational, climatic, and historical motives within the different city regions. Thereby improving the connection between the left and right side of the river; transitioning the suburban region to a more polycentric structure while maintaining a spatial relation to the city; and explicitly manages the horizontal growth of the periphery. But that most importantly, captures the metropole in a single narrative from its inner-city to its outer edges. Graduation thesis prepared for the master’s degree in urban design at the Eindhoven University of Technology.
Through a close reading of Antwerp’s current spatial and socio-economic composition, and the introduction of the interplay between the city’s three defining paradigms – abstracted to ‘The Rampart, the Traffic Artery, and the Park’ – this study tries to sketch a unifying strategy for Antwerp’s metropole. A strategy that embeds residential, economic, cultural, recreational, climatic, and historical motives within the different city regions. Thereby improving the connection between the left and right side of the river; transitioning the suburban region to a more polycentric structure while maintaining a spatial relation to the city; and explicitly manages the horizontal growth of the periphery. But that most importantly, captures the metropole in a single narrative from its inner-city to its outer edges.
Graduation thesis prepared for the master’s degree in urban design at the Eindhoven University of Technology.
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The completion and capping of Antwerp’s ring
On the first spread the congestion problems of the city are visualised. It
shows structural congestion present in the ring of Antwerp taken from a study
conducted in 2015 by the Vlaams Verkeerscentrum (Flemish Traffic Institute,
2015, p. 42). From this map we can see that the entirety of the ring is congested
for several hours every day (morning and evening), and that the much of
Linkeroever; both the Charles de Costerlaan and the Blancefloerlaan, and the
connecting Halewijnlaan are also influenced by this.
The two spreads following the congestion show the resulting air
(NO2) and noise pollution in the ring zone. We see that, because of its lower
density, particularly the suburbs are affected. These two maps were made by
using measurements from the Geluidsactieplan 2019-2023, in 2015 by the
Flemish Government (Department Agentschap Omgeving Wegen & Verkeer,
2019, p. 87), and the Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij (Flemish Environmental
Company, 2018, p. 28), respectively.
The final two spreads show the heat island effect in Antwerp and the
flood risks around the city, and a short summary of the water plan of Antwerp.
From the former we see that the city is in average 4 ºC warmer than the rural
areas around it, and 0,5 to 1 ºC warmer than the suburban region. The map
also clearly shows the cooling effect of the green radials entering the city. This
map was made from a heat island projection performed by the Flemish Institute
of Technological Research in 2015, and shows the first four layers (each
layer is 0,5 ºC) (Flemish Institute of Techonological Research, 2015). The flood
risks around the city are a zoom from previous maps, and was taken from the
Flemish Hydrographical Atlas (Flemish Goverment, 2017). The water plan of
Antwerp discusses its plans to reduce the cities exposure to extreme rainfall or
drought by increasing its above ground water storage and adding more green
in the streets. The ring zone is one of the larger potential water storage zones
that the city is going to research (De Urbanisten; Witteveen+Bos; Common
Ground, 2019).
Figure 4.5 - previous spreads
Drawing of the congestion of the ring
(Flemish Traffic Institute, 2015, p. 42).
Figure 4.6 - previous spreads
Drawing of the air pollution caused by
the ring highway (Flemish Environmental
Company, 2018, p. 28).
Figure 4.7 - previous spreads
Drawing of the noise pollution caused
by the ring highway (Flemish Environmental
Company, 2018, p. 28).
Figure 4.8 - previous spreads
Drawing of the heat island effect in
Antwerp (Flemish Institute of Techonological
Research, 2015).
Figure 4.9 - previous spreads
Drawing of flood areas and flood risk
in the city (De Urbanisten; Witteveen-
+Bos; Common Ground, 2019;
Flemish Goverment, 2017).
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