Author:

Keywords:

landscape urbanism, integration, urban-rural, spatial projects

Abstract:

To argue that Flemish space is fragmented, is simply stating the obvious. The diffuse and fragmented condition of this space has been frequently and extensively described. It has also been explained how this condition came about as a result of the emergence of the welfare state and how it heralded the end of the old contrast between city and countryside, and gave the green light for the advent of various concepts aimed at describing a similar ‘intermediate condition’. In this paper I therefore do not so much want to enter into discussing this new or, better, this different condition (not city, nor countryside, but ánd city ánd countryside), but rather ask how we do deal with this middle landscape today from an urban development perspective. I argue that this different context of fragmentation, diversification and advancing urbanisation (in Flanders and elsewhere) has logical consequences for the planning and (policy) management of these areas. We can formulate three complementary findings from the current way of dealing with the middle landscape in urbanism. In particular we notice first a project-based approach, secondly in which landscape increasingly comes to the fore and thirdly the ‘integration’ concept is introduced. In the framework of these findings, an important role seems to have been reserved for design, for instance as a possible medium of integration. The Fresh Kills case, a former landfill site surrounded by valuable marsh ecologies in suburban Staten Island, New York, is used to draw a picture of this changed role of design in the different condition of the middle landscape.