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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Figure 1.5
Drawing of the Resilient Landscape
(Department of Urban development,
Team Spatial planning, 2018, p. 30).
With Resilient landscape, Antwerp want to restore its connection with the water
and increase the percentage of residents that live within walking distance of
public green (currently 61 percent), thereby creating a green-blue structure that
will help them become climate resilient. Regarding densification the city mentions
that it must constantly be weighed up against the additional requirements
it brings regarding the requirements for greenery, stating that taller buildings
could be an option to allow unpaved surfaces as much as possible. In the
inner-city they want to focus on eliminating as much paved surface as possible
to also improve heat stress and water problems; experimenting with garden
streets and greening the interior of building blocks. In addition, Antwerp
encourages private inhabitants to make gardens, green facades/roofs (Department
of Urban development, Team Spatial planning, 2018, pp. 26-28).
Antwerp established four types of green in the city: Green mist, Superparks,
Scheldtpark, and Ring Park. The first category established that there are
several loose patches of green scattered throughout the city (parks, in streets,
on facades, etc.), in which every opportunity needs to be seized to expand
them to the Ring Park with green streets. Connecting functions are reserved
for the latter three categories, with a special place for the Ring Park, that is
supposed to connect the local green with the regional nature. (Department of
Urban development, Team Spatial planning, 2018, pp. 29-31).
Figure 1.6
Map that shows the densification
along the ring zone and the concept of
the green ring and green radials (The
Intendant for the liveability measures in
Antwerp’s ring zone, 2016a).
Growing around the ring
With the capping of the ring Antwerp wants to facilitate a more attractive ring
zone that is no longer crippled under the effects of the highway. In doing so
the city is creating some well needed densification space. By increasing the
attractiveness of the ring zone, the city wants to shift the growth of the city from
the peripheral area to the vicinity of the ring. In doing so Antwerp want to
create a defined urban edge on the inner-city as well as the suburbs. With the
densification project the city wants to create an attractive environment for the
families that have left the city in recent years, in favour of the suburban region
or the peripheral area (Department of Urban development, Team Spatial planning,
2018, p. 43).
With the creation of the defined urban edge the city wants to change
the relationship between the inner-city and the suburbs. These zones now both
turn away from the ring zone, with the urban edge the city want to go from
turning their backs to each other, to facing one another. In the plans it seems
that Linkeroever, and also parts of Zwijndrecht and Burcht are also getting a
defined urban edge. As we have previously read, there is not yet a clear role
for Linkeroever in the city (The Intendant for the liveability measures in Antwerp’s
ring zone, 2016a, p. 11). In 2016, a design competition for Linkeroever
was launched by the city architect. Five projects won the competition,
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