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

Conclusion
This research set out to design a strategy for Antwerp that could establish a link
between the two large structuring plans the city is going to implement in the
upcoming years – the ring project and the shift of Antwerp to their so-called
Network City. The strategy tried to allow the city to attain a more polycentric
structure, while managing to maintain a strong link between the inner-city and
the suburban regions. At the same time, it tried to apply spatial limitations to
the growth of the peripheral regions, and research ways to expand the densification
plans should the population growth increase more than expected due to
the success of the ring project. A general end date for this strategy, based on
the available planning of the city’s current plans, around 2050/2060.
The strategy was built on two assumptions. The first (1) was that the ring
project would result in the capping of the ring highway in its entirety. This
positioned the ring project as a scenario in which the ring park had the fullest
potential to attract people to the city, allowing for the exploration of a strategy
that needed to maximise its densification efforts. The second (2) assumption
was the role of the left bank of the Scheldt in the narrative of the two structuring
plans. The strategy assumes after close reading of the available literature,
that Linkeroever will become part of the inner-city of Antwerp, and that the
neighbouring villages of Zwijndrecht and Burcht, and the southernmost parts
of the harbour of Antwerp will become part of the suburban region of Antwerp’s
metropole.
The strategy’s main approach leaned on the interplay between the set: the
rampart, the traffic artery, and the park. An interaction which can be observed
in Antwerp’s past and upcoming plans. Applying this interaction allowed the
strategy to not only imbed a residential and economic component in the various
stages of the strategy, but a cultural, recreational, climatic, and historical
component as well. In addition, it allowed the strategy to establish a more
robust connection between the different regions of the city.
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