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 suburban region and reducing the marshalling yard, would free up space
for redevelopment, and would be in line with current plans.
At Linkeroever the highway cuts through the large-scale ecological zones; resulting
in a segregated landscape. With the Oosterweel-link this seems to only
increase, with the exception of three wildlife crossings, meaning there is still a
long way to go if these different nature areas are to become a coherent whole
in the ring park. The landscape of Linkeroever can roughly be divided into two
types of nature: ecological nature to the east at the edge of Linkeroever, and
functional nature to the east towards the built-up area (nature with a function
for the city, like sailing or as a festival terrain). All of these ecological areas are
breeding grounds for birds, this is something the municipality want to maintain
and strengthen, by forming stronger connections between the zones.
Linkeroever is home to several palimpsest-like structures, the most
prominent being the leftover grid of the US repatriation camp; Camp Tophat.
We further see the diagonal end of the Tunnellaan, once connected to the
Charles de Costerlaan; the historic dyke structure in the edge of the morphology
of Zwijndrecht, Burcht, and the industrial area; and the visual axis to the
cathedral from the Blancefloerlaan.
Linkeroever is an extensive grid structure that is partially the result of subsequent
developments due to the two main east-west access roads (Blancefloerlaan
and Charles de Costerlaan). The grid is also visible in the landscape,
in the grid op Tophat, but also a north-south axis extending from the ring exit,
which is going to be a bicycle highway in the ring project. This, combined
with the divide between the two types of nature might be a natural end to the
development of Linkeroever.
Morphology of the districts along the ring
There are four types of block configurations used: (1) organic, (2) radial, and
two types of orthogonal, one with (3) a grid structure, and (4) orthogonal with
angular sides. All of these are closed building block structures, with long narrow
parcels that extend to the middle of the block.
For squares we find three types; (1) created by a convergence of
streets or different morphological patterns; (2) formed by the absence of a
building block; or (3) around an iconic building.
Regarding sections we see a 1 to 1 or 1,5 ratio (street width & building height)
for narrow streets. Building heights on wider streets, like larger chaussees or
the Leien, are often related to half the width of the street. High-rise can be
found along the parks or quays, here the building heights are again related in
a 1 to 1 ratio to the width of the street. The buildings along the sections have
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