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

sue firmly back on the map, led to an increase in investment in public transport
in countries around the world. We see an increase in public transport usage
in New York during the late 1980s and late 1990s (Pucher, 2002, pp. 33-34)
(Autosnelwegen.nl, n.d.). The Netherlands also shifted its focus away from the
car from the mid 1980s onward. The third and fourth Memorandum on Spatial
Planning focussed more on public transport and the decrease of car-use
(Bruinsma & Koomen, 2018, pp. 35-37). This was supported by the Structuurschema
Verkeer en Vervoer (Structure scheme traffic and transport) in 1977,
which proscribed a decrease in the building of roads and an increase in public
transport. Specifically, the intercity train network, buses, and high-speed train
connections to Belgium and Germany (Autosnelwegen.nl, n.d.). A trend we see
Belgium, and the rest of Europe as well; starting from the 1980s and continuing
through the 1990s, a high-speed train network was being developed all
over Europe, both national and international (De Preter, 2016).
Moving forward?
The trend of re-urbanisation, or urbanisation at this point, of the late 1980s, is
still continuing today. According to the United Nations as of 2018, 55 percent
of the world’s population is living in urban areas. A percentage that is expected
to increase to 68 percent by 2050 (United Nations, 2018), and to 80 or
90 percent in 2100 (Nijskens, Hilbers, Lohuis, & Heeringa, 2019, p. ix). As
a result of this allure, megacities with more than ten million inhabitants are
becoming more and more common.
Due to heavy investments in infrastructure, and cultural and recreational
facilities, cities have become the economic powerhouses of the countries
they are in. People are drawn to them for the education, jobs, cultural
events, creativity, the recreational possibilities they offer, and not unimportant;
the presence of other people. This is mostly rural to urban migration of highly
educated young people, however, immigrants in search of work and education
are also focusing on cities, where they join communities of the same heritage
(Nijskens, Hilbers, Lohuis, & Heeringa, 2019, pp. ix-x). Families on the other
hand, are moving out of the city in search for space and affordable (larger)
housing. This migration is leading to a three-way divide in the housing market:
overheating in major cities, revival in the surrounding towns, and an emptying
in the peripheral zones (Hekwolter of Hekhuis, Nijskens, & Heeringa, 2017,
pp. 7-8). As this urbanisation trend is going on, the search for space in the
city is becoming increasingly difficult. In recent years, redevelopment of brown
fields, 13 old harbours or industrial areas, or even on top of highways has
become common in cities (Nor, 2017, pp. 17-18; Stapel, 2017, p. 28). The
lack of space is often also caused by administrative building restrictions and
the not-in-my-backyard attitude that is rising globally. In addition to the scar-
13.
A brownfield is a piece of land that
has been previously developed for industrial
purposes, and has since been
abandoned, leaving the ground in the
area polluted (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).
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