Category Archives: Heritage

Leuven CS

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In central Leuven, two major areas are in the process of urban transformation: the surroundings of Leuven Central Station and the fluvial port area, called Vaartkom.


open large map of Leuven CS and Vaartkom

The construction of the new station square and bus terminal, by Spanish architect Manuel de Solá-Morales, has changed the entrance of the city for who arrives by public transport. The urban plan by Marcel Smets (professor at Leuven University) has intensified land use on the center side of the railway zone, and has connected the center of Leuven with the town of Kessel-Lo through a passageway underneath the station. The station itself was improved by a new canopy and parking garage. The old station building is being renovated at the moment. In the design, optimal use was made of the existing levels around the station, to separate pedestrian traffic from road traffic and create attractive public space. At the Kessel-Lo side, development continues. Nearby, at a former locomotive manufacturing site, a large urban void waits for redevelopment. The Vaartkom area is starting transformation of historic warehouse buildings along the dock.

Development of hotels and offices at the Kessel-Lo side of Leuven CS

Development of offices at the center side of Leuven CS

Kessel-Lo entrance of Leuven CS

New walkway connecting Kessel-Lo to Leuven CS

Vacant space of the former locomotive factory at he Kessel-Lo side

Paris – a visit to the railroads

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Paris has been an inspiring test site for everything connected to rail transport, stations and ‘transit oriented development’. One can find good functioning ‘gares’, traditionally from the nineteenth century, such as Gare St. Lazare and Gare du Nord. The seven terminal station buildings were completely integrated in Paris’ classic street pattern and boulevards. One of the stations, Bastille, was demolished later on. Some stations are located very close to one another, such as Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est, and Gare de Lyon and Gare de Bercy. However, each has distinct destinations in France and abroad.

Gare Montparnasse set the scene for one of the most iconic train accidents in history. In 1895, a locomotive burst through the main facade, after having trouble with dis-functioning breaks. The station was completely rebuilt in 1969, establishing a heavy green deck on top of the platforms, with trees, event spaces and tennis courts. The square is flanked by enormous modernist buildings on three sides, and one of Paris’ highest office towers.

In suburban districts, such as Marne-la-Vallée, regional RER stations are integrated with social housing, shopping centers and extensive parking facilities. The surroundings of station Noisy Le Grand, for example, are dominated by roads and drive-ins, while the RER station itself is situated underground. Postmodernist architect Bofill realized several buildings in this area, such as the housing complex below.

The Promenade Plantée is an early example of reuse of an obsolete railroad viaduct. It was refurbished as an elevated park in the 1980’s and 1990’s and has since that time propelled revitalization of the adjacent neighborhoods. The trail consists of both elevated and street level sections, as well as a tunnel section. It has served as an example for many other transformation projects, such as the New York High Line.

SprintCity at BUFTOD 2012

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This week we presented SprintCity, a project by the Deltametropolis Association in cooperation with TUDelft and Movares, at the BUFTOD conference in Paris (Marne-la-Vallée). SprintCity investigates opportunities for transit-oriented development (TOD) in The Netherlands, using a simulation game toolkit based on real data, with the real stakeholders. Besides sharing results of this project so far with urban planners, the goal of the presentation was to discuss whether this planning support tool can be effectively implemented in other regions and city’s. Fortunately, the international community gave a very good response to the project and suggested fruitful applications in the city regions of Toulouse, Paris, Bogotá, Alicante and the central plain of Mexico. Hopefully, a couple of these applications can actually happen over the next year. Click here to download the SprintCity folder (English).

The BUFTOD 2012 conference joined several international researchers and planners. There was a certain Eurocentric perspective, followed by North America and Asia. Although some of the efforts were ‘lost in translation’, in general it was a good opportunity to build a TOD network. The Dutch were extremely well represented, with several universities and case studies. I took a Thalys train with Dutch researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Delft University of Technology.

Dutch TOD specialists on their way to Paris

International good practices were compared, contributing to better understanding of different development models and the specific conditions that led to these strategies in each country. It became clear once again, that ready-made solutions (prêt-a-porter) don’t exist. However, we can learn of how each case has managed to remove a barrier to TOD. A few notes:

Robert Cervero, a known authority in the field of TOD, mentioned the importance of organized density (Curitiba) in contrast to scattered density (São Paulo); the potential of functional mix and re-use of brown-field sites and industrial complexes near transit stations (Dallas, Seattle); and high integration of Bus Rapid Transit systems with surrounding development (Guangzhou) versus low integration (Bogotá). Cervero was rather surprised with the critical Dutch projects at the conference, since the Dutch slow traffic and public transport systems generally serve as good examples abroad.
Claude Soulas showed the Port-Vert project in Noisy (Marne-la-Vallée), about inter-modality around the regional RER train system. Currently, the bicycle feeds 1,8% of these metropolitan trains, whereas the best European practices reach 40-50% of bike pre-transport to railway stations. Furthermore, the functional mix of greater Paris needs to be improved, as the East is predominantly residential and the opposite side around La Défense concentrates a huge amount of jobs.

Rental bikes, in front of the Notre Dame cathedral

Adrien Gey presented a circular slow traffic network in the Grand Paris region, connecting various parks and natural sites to housing and work areas. Guowen Dai demonstrated some of the challenges around the new high-speed South Station in Nanjing. An area of 32 square kilometers should become a ‘new town’ of 60.000 people. However, current urbanization has not occured according to the master plan, and integration of the station with metro and road networks will be challenging. Wendy Tan showed that TOD projects all over the world keep track of each other and sometimes copy-paste design solutions from other contexts into their own.
Maria Palumbo analyzed the motor-taxi system in Cotonou (Benin), which is starting to evolve into a formal system by recognizable yellow driver t-shirts. The Cotonou model is being exported to other cities in the West-African region, such as Bamako in Mali. Armando Padilla investigated TOD implementation possibilities in the Alicante province and Murcia region, according to the Dutch Stedenbaan experience. The polycentric region suffers from sprawl and the real estate crisis, which makes improvement of rail transport very challenging.

Juliette Maulat presented metropolitan density targets for a rail corridor west of Toulouse. Between 2000 and 2010 the frequency of the service was raised to 4 trains per hour, leading to an increase in ridership. However, the improvements on the transport system merely supported urban development, and did not shape them to the desired densities. Paul Chorus demonstrated that the Tokyo metropolitan government regulates density and public space around transit stations by granting higher floor area ratios to developers. Transit companies develop diverse activities along a corridor to create off-peak travel and make more profit. The companies gain life-time concessions and thoroughly investigate their territory and residents to optimize revenues.
Elina Krasilnikova and Yulia Ivanitskaya presented the longitudinal industrial city of Volgograd (Stalingrad), with 100km length and 9km width one of the longest cities in the world. A new waterfront transport axis could initiate redevelopment of the industrial sites along the river and make place for a linear park and leisure facilities. Wulfhorst and Alain L’Hostis discussed the German-French collaboration project Bahn.Ville, which was directed at integration of transport and spatial planning at two reference sites: St. Etienne and Thaunusbahn (Frankfurt). Implementation of TOD in Saarterassen, near the French-German border, is still difficult due to sectoral responsibilities and lack of an integrated lobby agent for TOD. Despite these setbacks, they have the following advice: ‘Don’t Wait! The time is now, the place is here! Start testing implementation of TOD right away.’

Photograph of Volgograd, taken from the International Space Station

Read more:
SprintCity planning support tool in Utrecht
Atlanta BeltLine – lecture, debate and booklet
SprintCity – spring 2011
Hong Kong public transport nodes
SprintCity goes China

Tunnels under the Eixão

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One of the most striking novelties of the construction of Brasília in the 1950’s, was the complete separation of functions and of transport flows. As Brasília’s Pilot Plan is now UNESCO world heritage, this rigid division is likely to persist in the city’s DNA forever. Subtle changes, however, are in the making:

Not surprisingly, the road system – cars and buses – is the backbone of Brasília. It is often said that without a car, life is difficult there, except for your local necessities that you can find in the living environment of the ‘super-block’. The road system is fluid, almost without traffic lights, using many flyovers and extensive junctions. The pedestrian walkways form a secondary system, literally undermines the main system of cars, diving underneath the junctions by many pedestrian tunnels. The pedestrian flows have not been explored yet for commercial activities, except for some illegal vending, neither for services. A competition, organized by the Institute of Brazilian Architects of the Federal District seeks to change this (application until April 10th!).

Designers are asked to contribute with realistic and innovative plans for one of the main pedestrian tunnels of the city, underneath the main road axis (Eixão), as well as other tunnels in the future. New commercial and communitarian functions should be joined to these passageways, while keeping them safe and functional.

View a short film of Brasília’s pedestrian tunnels, underneath the main axis

Highlines for everyone

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Transformation projects, of inner city train viaducts to elevated public parks, are mushrooming around the globe. This week, for example, the design for the third and last section of the New York High Line was presented. At the same time, Rotterdam gained a first and temporary part of its own high line: the so-called Luchtsingel.

The Luchtsingel, designed by ZUS, was pronounced the winner of a special competition organized by the municipality of Rotterdam. All residents of the city could vote for one of five projects, that would then receive part of a 4 million Euro funding. The other projects included a City Farm and a Music program. The temporary wooden structure of the Luchtsingel connects the central but derelict part of Hofplein to places north of the train tracks. There it connects to Rotterdam’s existing high line, the Hofbogen (also known as Hofpleinlijn, before it was deactivated in 2009). Several plans have been made to turn this viaduct into a public park, or build housing on top of it. This hasn’t been made viable yet, except for some reuse of the arcs for the Mini-Mall. Now a first and temporary attempt will be made to explore the top of the viaduct structure and let people experience the high line effect in Rotterdam. The project still lacks funding, so sections of the wooden structure are actually being sold to people or companies who would like to have their name on it.

The High Line at the Railyards, the third section of this famous project, has been designed by Diller + Scofidio + Renfro. Part of the landscaping is left in a rather wild state, with the rusty tracks still in place. People walk through this part on white or steel pathways. Part of the deck is to be removed, showing the heavy overhead structure of the viaduct. Close to the junction of the tracks, a theater space was designed. The entire High Line will be open to the public by spring 2014.