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

Figure 4.25
The ring park; a system of spatious
boulevards and large parks.
The green ring
With the entirety of the ring put underground, the right as well as the left side
of the river can be developed into a quality green environment. Depending
on the side of the river, the appearance of the ring park changes. On the
right, the ring park is much more imbedded into the urban fabric of the city
and suburban region. Here the ring park will become a system of spacious
boulevards and large parks. Creating this distinction will prevent the ring park
from becoming a large ambiguous zone, and it helps to increase the connection
between city and suburb. The large parks are located on the locations
of the major moments of the Grote Omwalling and thus also the located on
the junctions of the current ring. This creates a historic link, and helps to solve
a practical problem; building on top of highways, or their junctions is much
more difficult and expensive.
On the left, the ring park will be much larger in scale. This section of
the ring park will serve as the culmination of the entire green ring, and serve
as a link to the ecological radial that is the Scheldt river valley. Establishing a
similar link as the green radials on the right side of the river.
Figure 4.26
The ring park as the city’s water
system.
As positioned in the previous chapter, the ring park will make a connection to
the water element of the Grote Omwalling and inundation area of Linkeroever.
On the right side, the wet moat of the ramparts will trace the entire length of
the park, attaching to the leftover lunettes. This will create a historic link, as
well as a functional one, as the new moat is used in the water system of the
districts bordering the ring.
On the left, a large inundation area will be made by connecting the three
large ecological bodies of water with each other, and to the Scheldt; the
Blokkersdijk, the Rot, and the Burchtse Weel. The motives for doing this are
threefold; the first reason is to improve the living environment of the birds
inhabiting the zones, and to create a more robust connection between these
three breeding grounds; something that Antwerp is very keen on doing. The
second reason has to do with climate change. Not only will the Scheldt have
a location to overflow its banks; the water system of Linkeroever and the
suburban villages of Zwijndrecht and Burcht will also be connected to it. Which
helps cater to a contemporary problem, and give the large-scale ecological
zone a functional characteristic as well; anchoring the zone in the city fabric
as green (unbuildable) area. Both of these reasons underpin the third, which
is that the constant connection between the three bodies of water and the
Scheldt, and the connection of the water systems of the neighbouring districts
will help to create an ever-changing landscape on Linkeroever. A landscape
that can sometimes be quite wet, and very clearly attached to the Scheldt river
valley; and more marshy, with a diverse range of flora (and fauna), at other
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