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

Figure 1.17
A map of Antwerp around 1846 (Geopunt,
n.d.; Felix-Archief, n.d.).
autonomy, the south began to rebel in 1830; called the Belgian Revolution.
This was resolved in the London Conference of 1830 were the major powers
of Europe recognized the secession of Belgium, establishing Belgium’s
independence. It took until 1839 for William I to accept this with the Treaty of
London, which defined borders between the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
and the Kingdom of Belgium. Under Leopold I, the Kingdom of Belgium
became a constitutional monarchy (Broeders, et al., 2017, pp. 192-269).
On the map to the left we see that the Spaanse Omwalling was
further reinforced with ravelins to the north and south, and that the Citadel was
strengthened with to lunettes pointing to the south. We also see a large new
lunette; the Lunette of Herentals (Hebbelinck & Plomteux, 2009).
The defence system on the Borgerweerpolder has been increased considerably
since the previous map. We see that Fort Isabelle (1) has been developed to a
lunette, and that a new lunette was built near the Galgeweel; Fort Burcht (2).
We see that Fort Vlaams Hoofd has been rebuilt to a star fort (or bastion fort)
and that a lunette (Fort Calloo; 3) and a pentagonal fort (Fort Zwijndrecht;
4), along with a defensive moat have also been built. This development was
initiated by the French, who wanted to establish Antwerp as an international
trading city, after the reopening of the Scheldt river in 1792 (Enthoven & Van
der Maas, 2015). Shifting the main economy from a textile to trading. The
Borgerweertpolder was supposed to have a key role in this. Napoleon had
big plans for the Borgerweertpolder, as he wanted to build an entirely new city
there. This was the first time in history that the polder was viewed as not only a
place for military usage, but also as a place for residential development. The
new city would receive the name Ville Marie-Louise, and would get an arsenal,
shipyards, and residential barracks. A temporary pontoon bridge was supposed
to connected the two sides of the river (Schoofs, 2003a). We also see
the delicate pattern of ditches of the Borgerweertpolder for the first time.
We further see the leftovers of Fort Stengel (5), a fort built by the French to defend
the chaussee to Ghent. The Dutch later demolished it, because enemies
could also capture it and use it as a base of operations (Verbraeken, 2014c).
At the start of the peninsula we see that the Blokkers dyke (6) has been extended
to the south with the Suyker dyke (7).
The focus of the French, and later William I, on the development of
the harbour left its marks on the city, with the creation of the le petit basin (7)
and subsequently the le grand basin (8); the current Bonapartedok and the
Willemdok respectively. And the channel from Antwerp to Herentals to the
north of the city, outside of the ramparts.
This is the first map that shows morphology. We see that Borgerhout,
Deurne, Berchem, Merxem, and also Zwijndrecht have developed as linear
settlements along the chaussee roads. On the left bank, we see that another
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