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

hubs, like the P+R structures, or large amenities. The information currently
available about these projects suggests that there is no conscious consideration
on how the inherent duality between, on the one hand improving
mobility and connectivity between the inner-city and suburban region, while
at the same time applying a short-distance polycentric strategy to the suburbs,
is going to fit together. An overarching strategy that links these two projects
together, and manages to give the suburban region a higher degree of autonomy
while keeping a strong link to the inner-city seems essential here.
Another point of criticism, is Antwerp’s approach to getting a grip on
the growth on the peripheral areas. It seems that Antwerp is only doing this in
an indirect manner; through the appointment of locations for densification.
In other words, Antwerp is relying on the attraction of the residential projects
they are going to build in the future, instead of directly devising spatial ways of
limiting the growth of the periphery.
Looking at the population projections and how many residential projects are
constructed annually, the city concludes that with the implementation of these
two plans, it can keep up with the demand and thus has no real housing crisis
in numbers. However, the city does experience a trend of families moving out
of the city due to increasingly smaller apartments, and because they cannot afford
the apartments that fit their needs. An issue that Antwerp is actively trying
to solve by giving families a place in the inner-city through the densification of
the ring zone.
We might be right to conclude here that the city might be underestimating,
to some extend the effect the capping of almost the entire ring will
have on the popularity of the city. A cap with this length is unpreceded, and the
effect it has on the liveability of the city can be enormous. This might attract
more migration to the city than currently expected. Another point is Antwerp’s
intention to cater to the families that have left the city because the apartments
were too small or too expensive. Looking at how office rents went up
by 10 percent, and land prices by nearly 40 percent in a 500-metre radius of
Boston’s Big Dig (Ascher & Krupp, 2010, p. 195) – granted the most famous
example – it could be a little naïve to think that price-wise this area is suitable
for families that left the city because it was too expensive for their needs.
In extension of this, it might then be a missed opportunity that the role
of the left bank is missing in the narrative of the ring project, as well as in that
of the polycentric development. On the one hand, we see perhaps clear signs
that this region is increasing its connection to Antwerp with the urban edge or
densification Linkeroever, Zwijndrecht, and Burcht are getting. For Linkeroever
this might even mean attachment to the inner-city of Antwerp, with the addition
of being included in the low-emission zone within the bounds of the ring, and
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