Re-territorialization in a Post-flood Limbourg

SPRING STUDIO 2022

RECONFIGURING THE VESDRE VALLEY Wallonia, Belgium

Ermias Tessema Beyene

Master (of Science) Human Settlements

Faculty of Engineering and Department of Architecture

Promoters: Kelly Shannon (KU Leuven), Bruno De Meulder (KU Leuven), Catherine Vilquin (XMU), Viviana d'Auria (KU Leuven)

© Copyright KU Leuven

Without written permission of the thesis supervisors and the authors it is forbid den to reproduce or adapt in any form or by any means any part of this publication. Requests for obtaining the right to reproduce or utilize parts of this publication should be addressed to Faculty of Engineering and Department of Architecture, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 box 2431, B-3001 Heverlee.

A written permission of the thesis supervisors is also required to use the methods, products, schematics and programs described in this work for industrial or com mercial use, and for submitting this publication in scientific contests.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My utmost gratitude goes to God for showing me his goodness in this journey. This will be a difficult journey without the support of my wife Beza. I am thankful for making my year away from you easier, and for your input and encouragement.

I also would like to thank my groupmates (Aws, Chloe, and Shuting) and studiomates(Shanon, Majd, Sean, and Basel) for making it a lively learning environment.

I finally thank my professors for their continuous input. I appreciate the dedication you put into the studio and your investment in us.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 GROUP DESIGN PROJECT

RE-ARTICULATION OF THE FLOODPLAIN AS A NATURAL SPINE: BETWEEN LANDSCAPING AND URBAN TISSUE TRANSFORMATIONS

02 INDIVIDUAL DESIGN PROJECT

TREAT AND TRICK ALONG THE SOFT AND HARD SIDE OF THE VESDRE MEANDER

03 INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH

RETERRITORIALIZATION IN A POST-FLOOD LIMBOURG

Vesdre Valley - Flooding + Topography

1 Chaudfontaine (Chapter 2.1 - Site for the international Workshop)

2. Pepenistere (Municipality for Another Group Refer the works of Shanon, Basel, Sean and Majd)

3. Limbourg (Chapte 1, 2.2, 2.3 - Group Project and Individual Strategic Project Site)

4. Eupen National Park (Chapter 2.2) - Heath Land (Natural Water Retention System for the Whole Valley Drained to be a Pine Forest)

© Ermias Tessema Beyene, Base maps from Géoportail de La Wallonie Hillshade (2014) and Flooding(2021)

AWS SAMARA CHLOÉ POISSEROUX ERMIAS TESSEMA BEYENE SHUTING LI

GROUP DESIGN PROJECT

Re-articulation of the Floodplain as a Natural Spine: between Landscaping and Urban Tissue Transformations

Chloé Poisseroux

1.1 Analysis

Satellite Images

All towns and villages in the Vesdre valley are remarkably intelligent ex amples of water urbanism. Their settlement structures are embedded seamlessly within the landscape that is structured by the water system. Settlement and water structures were intertwined, while engaging in constructive relationships. Most often settlements are nested in the trib utaries of the Vesdre River.

Since the industrial revolution, which led to the massive occupation of the floodplains (and hence a fundamental reorientation of the settle ment structures), and astep further, since the modernization operations of the after war period with enlarged car-oriented infrastructures and suburbanization, the roles have been reversed: the built environment and its infrastructures dominate the occupation and inscribe/absorb the river and its tributaries within the built structure.

Global warming, post-industrial conditions, and natural disasters as the flood of summer 2021 require sensible, meaningful as well as a feasible reconstruction strategy in which a fundamental restructuring of the ter ritory (insection from the agricultural plateaus, the forested hillsides and built up river valley) is envisioned, away from themono-functionalism of the industrial era and towards a co-presence and balance of urban, nat ural and agricultural occupation of the territories.

Kelly Shannon, Bruno De Meulder, Cati Vilquin, Viviana d'Auria, extracted from the studio brief of " Reconfeguring the Vesdre Valley".

(Figure 1.1.1) Satellite image showing the city of Limbourg and surrounding landscape.

Historic Maps

(Figure 1.1.2) Maps of Ferraris (1770-1778).

(Figure 1.1.3) Maps of Vandermaelen (1846-1854).

The city of Limbourg has originally developed in two parts: the high city, on the plateaus, and the low city along the meander. The high city was more protected in case of an attack and the low city served for agriculture and mobility purposes. Through time, the city settled in the meander taking over the floodplain at first with agricultural fields and later on with urbanization. Outside of the meander, it is also visible that houses have replaced some forests. Nowadays, the inside of the meander is dense, but in some parts of the plateaus, the bocage landscape is still present.

© Wallonmap 2022

© Wallonmap 2022

(Figure 1.1.4) Map of the war depot (1865 - 1880).

(Figure 1.1.5) Satellite Images from 1971.

© Wallonmap 2022

© Wallonmap 2022

Base Maps:

(Figure 1.1.6) Hillshade Map. (Figure 1.1.7) Main Soil Types (1846-1854).

Steep slope

Gentle slope

Steep slope

Peat soils or bogs

Sandy or sandy-loamy soils with moderate or imperfect natural drainage

Loamy soils with favorable natural drainage

Loamy soils with moderate or imperfect natural drainage

Loamy-stony soils with a schist load and mainly favorable natural drainage

Loamy-stony soils with a calcareous load and natural drainage. Artificial or unmapped soils

(Figure 1.1.8) Soil erosion risk map.

Very high risk of soil erosion

High risk of soil erosion

Moderate risk of soil erosion

Low risk of soil erosion

Very low risk of soil erosion

(Figure 1.1.9) Strahler stream order and flooding risk map.

Depressions

Navigable waterways

1st category described in the atlas

2nd category described in the atlas

3rd category described in the atlas

Unclassified streams

Complex areas

© Wallonmap

Interpretive Map

High flooding risk

Medium flooding risk

Low flooding risk

Social infrastructure (school, church, city hall,...)

Flood plain

(Figure 1.1.10) Interpretive Map.

Aws Samara, Chloe Poisseroux, Ermias Beyene, Shuting Li 2022

Sealed

Sealed Soil Dike Soil Filling

Hard

Normal Water Level

Flood Water Level

Site Sections (Figure 1.1.11) (Figure 1.1.12)

Hard Vesdre

(Figure 1.1.13) (Figure 1.1.14)

Suburb

Suburb

Suburb

Suburb

Vesdre

Vesdre

1.2 Design Vision and Strategic Projects

Vision Map

Water body on the surface Tributaries

Waterways in the marshland Swamp

Existing Forest

Existing planted land

Alluvial Forest Swamp Forest Forest on Loamy soil Forest on Sandy soil

Existing Park Parkland Grassland planted Sport field

Pedestrian planted St. Permeable pavement Alleyways and staircase system

Existing hedges Proposed hedges

Proposed Housing

Proposed Public Buildings

Social Infrastructure

(Figure 1.2.1) Future vision map.

Vision Map with Strategic Projects

(Figure 1.2.2) Map showing the location and size of strategic projects sites

Strategic Project 1: Treat and Trick along the Soft and Hard Side of the Vesdre Meandre

Strategic Project 2: RiverLong Learning

(Figure 1.2.4) First strategic project site in plan, RiverLong Learning.

© Chloe Poisseroux 2022

Strategic Project 3: Restructuring the Tributary a Mosaic of water, Forest, and Housing

(Figure 1.2.4) First strategic project site in plan, Treat and Trick along the Soft and Hard Side of the Vesdre Meandre.

References

Figure 1.1.1: Limbourg Satellite Image. [Map]. Scale not given. Google Maps. https://www.google.be/maps/@50.6177299,5.9342396,1924m/data=!3m1!1e3. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.2: Limbourg. 1777. [Map]. Scale not given. Walonmap Voyage dans le Temps. https://geoportail.wallonie.be/ walonmap#BBOX=260092.79114057188,262631.4733012695,146105.21468686458,147121.21671886864. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.3: Limbourg. 1850. [Map]. Scale not given. Walonmap Voyage dans le Temps. https://geoportail.wallonie.be/ walonmap#BBOX=260092.79114057188,262631.4733012695,146105.21468686458,147121.21671886864. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.4: Limbourg. 1865. [Map]. Scale not given. Walonmap Voyage dans le Temps. https://geoportail.wallonie.be/ walonmap#BBOX=260092.79114057188,262631.4733012695,146105.21468686458,147121.21671886864. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.5: Limbourg. 1971. [Map]. Scale not given. Walonmap Voyage dans le Temps. https://geoportail.wallonie.be/ walonmap#BBOX=258880.0047800881,265265.7363015511,145079.95230041764,148127.95839642984. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.6: Relief de la Wallonie - Modèle Numérique de Terrain (MNT) Zoom Limbourg. 2013. [Map]. Scale not given. Walonmap. https://geoportail.wallonie.be/ walonmap#BBOX=259310.61489519163,263567.76924283366,145454.99988514054,147487.00394914867. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.7: Carte des principaux types de sols de Wallonie Zoom Limbourg. 2005. [Map]. Scale not given. Walonmap. https://geoportail.wallonie.be/ catalogue/64bbc088-367c-485c-bd7c-d2d08baedf9d.html. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.9: LIDAXES - Axes de concentration du ruissellement et données associées Zoom Limbourg. 2021. [Map]. Scale not given. Walonmap. https://geoportail. wallonie.be/walonmap#BBOX=259310.61489519163,263567.76924283366,145454.99988514054,147487.00394914867. Accessed June 2nd, 2022.

Figure 1.1.10: Interpretetive Map of Limbourg 2022. [Map]. Scale not given. Drawn by group members Aws Samara, Ermias Tessema Beyene, Chloé Poisseroux, and Shuting Li.

Figure 1.1.11 and 1.1.12: Section Across Dolhain North 2022. adopted from Build Back Better (BBB) program output by Rafaela Armoutaki, Ariane, Cantillana, Julie Leysen. Redrawn by Ermias Tessema Beyene

Figure 1.1.13 and 1.1.14: Cross sections Vesdre River Limbourg 2022. Base drawing by Aws Samara, Chloé Poisseroux Graphics harmonization and detailing by Ermias Tessema Beyene

INDIVIDUAL DESIGN PROJECT

Treat and Trick Along the Soft and Hard Side of the Vesdre Meandre in Dolhain

2.1 International Workshop - 25-30 April 2022 | Liège

"Climate Hasards and Floodings. Thinking about Chaudfontaine from an adaptation perspective"

Entertaining the Vesdre A workshop Summary

ANDRÉA PERIGARD DYLAN PELEGRY ZOÉ LIEBEL

Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne JAN HAMZA

Université de Lausanne (UNIL) ERMIAS TESSEMA BEYENE KU Leuven

The Workshop The Site and Challenges

The flooding that happened last summer in the Vesdre Valley was a wakeup call to rethink the way we are exercising authority over our natural environment with the way we urbanize and develop. The five-day workshop was an exercise to look for alternative planning approaches that helps us reorganize our priorities, in the context of a disaster affected Chaudfontaine.

The commune of Chaudfontaine is located at the south-east gate of Liège. This me ander of the Vesdre marks the end of the steep-sided valley and the opening onto the dense urbanization around the center of Liège. This situation poses a major challenge for the municipality, which is directly affected by the risk of flooding, as evidenced the flooding happened in July 2021. This disaster has left traces that

© Jan Hamza

(Figure 2.1.1) Photo Montage - The Man-made Disaster in the Vesdre Valley

are both material, with the destruction of housing and equipment, but also imma terial, characterized by a collective memory of flood. In one hand, this revealed a need to carry out real water management work in the municipality to make it more resilient to natural hazards and risks. On the other hand, this tragic event requires recreating a relationship of trust with water. The group was tasked with site four which is located at the end of the steep valley of the Vesdre watershed.

One lesson we can take from the territorial analysis is how a nature-based ap proach is a sustainable option to deal with such disasters. Further upstream, in another meander, the Parc Hauster acts as a flood-prone garden and protects the Château des Thermes with its dense vegetation on the banks and its large permea ble space. Therefore re-imagining the Vesdre bank and its immediate region as an ecological corridor is a key strategy.

A lesson from Territorial Scale

(Figure 2.1.2) Floding + Hillshade [Map] (n.s) of Chaudfontain at Territorial Scale

© Ermias Tessema Beyene, Base maps from Géoportail de La Wallonie Hillshade (2014) and Flooding(2021)

A reading through historical maps

The bed of the Vesdre used to follow a gentle route of natural origin. Several ac tions and activities of anthropic origin have led to the modification of this route.

In the Ferraris map 1777, the river in this site appears to have two branches, one following the edge of the steep slope and the other more towards the center which seems to be a man-made canal. In the 19th century map, after the introduction of the railway line and the metal factory, the inner route is given emphasis and made to follow the embankments of the railway line. Currently we don’t see the original route of the river which used to follow a smooth natural route.

In addition, externally, the embankment that supports the railway line is paved and heavily concreted. Only four passages make it possible to reach the other side of the embankment via thin “tunnels” and to make this dyke permeable. However, during major floods, these passages have no effect on the current water flow. The combined effect of manipulating the course of the river and the railway embank ment acting as a dyke amplified the damage, especially on the housing area on the east side of the railway.

(Figure 2.1.3) Historical Maps - Alteration of the River from the 16th centurey to Present Day in Northern Chaudfontaine

(Figure 2.1.4&5) Sections - Alteration of the River from the 16th centurey to Present Day in Northern Chaudfontaine

© Géoportail de La Wallonie

© Ermias Tesema Beyene

© Ermias Tesema Beyene

Ruined facilities as an opportunity

The site is also characterized by a line of sports facilities which divides the resi dences into two. The Vaux-sous-Chèvremont sports complex hosts several types of activities and is used by pupils from municipal schools. This highly damaged facility needs to be preserved in order to maintain the sports offer to the inhab itants but to be reintegrated with an additional task of reinforcing the ecological corridor and flood management.

Improving Flood management to restore biodiversity

The first action is to bring back the old route that can return a smooth flow to the water and to minimize the tendency of the river to follow the railway in flooding times. Secondly a system of blue fingers, which are infiltrations of green and blue fillings that would fit into the system of the residential landscape (“dripping plateau”) and assist the retention of water and permeability. The third interven tion is to create a riparian landscape in the meadow area located just before the meandering. The last intervention under this objective is to vegetate the railway corridor. And create multiple under passes to increase infiltration of the dyke.

Reconnecting with the water through play

To deconstruct the negative image and fear towards the river among the inhabit ants of Chaudfontaine, working with the playful aspect of the water is proposed. For this reason, we have proposed permeable platforms of different levels and sizes to be multifunctional, ranging from frequent activities such as football to tempo rary activities such as guinguette. The depth difference would allow to be flooded first.

Conclusion

The post-industrial intervention of railway and urbanization in the flood plain of Chaudfontaine has amplified and complicated the flooding happened last summer. In order to heal both the river and the traumatized community, a nature-based approach with an element of play is implemented.

© Ermias Tesema Beyene

(Figure 2.1.6) Photo Montage - Reconnecting with the water through play

(Figure 2.1.7) Vision Map : Hierarchies of Floodability as a Structuring Element

Main River Line

New Secondary Paths for the River

Runoffs from residential buildings

Floodable Play Grounds and Parks

Flood plain Plateu

Ermias Tesema Beyene

Before

After

(Figure 2.1.8) Section - Hierarchies of Floodability

© Ermias Tesema Beyene

Fieldwork

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

THE TWO SIDES

A critical analysis of post flood Dolhain

Water is two-faced - soft and hard. The calm face of the river stays for a long time, which makes people deny there is another side to it. They push and manipulate the water to make it behave the way they want. But there always is a time when we see the other face - the brutal and the catastrophic. The same can be observed from what happened last summer in the Vesdre valley. It looked like an accident when the water flooded in an unprecedented volume taking houses, cars, lives, etc., but it

was actually a result of actions that took place in the last few hundred years. These were taken with a mindset that foolishly thinks we can actually set the course for nature to behave in a particular way, as if it could be domesticated like a beast. You can understand how it responds to different stimuli and treat it accordingly. You can make a friend out of it. But you should always know there is a beast inside it that could be unleashed when you push it against its logic.

(Figure 2.2.1) Eupen Park - Heath Land (Natural Water Retention System for the Whole Valley Drained to be a Pine Forest)

(Figure 2.2.2) How the heathland is being drained using channels

It all started from the afforestation of pine trees, which was preceded by draining a heath system that was serving as a natural water control for the whole Vesdre valley. For ages, this heath system retained water before it got to the Vesdre valley maintaining a steady flow. In a time of intensive rain, such as during the summer of 2021, the heath system would absorb the water and release it slowly. Since this wet landscape was not suitable to plant the pine forest a series of regularly spaced canals were built to send the water quickly out of the area. They replaced an under estimated indigenous system, with an endogenous one. This all was to realize they were stepping on the foot of a sleeping monster.

It was also about the topography and how to inhabit it accordingly. The plateau, the steep slopes, and the riverbed of the Vesdre valley were all carved by the river over a very long period of its course. It is primarily made for the river itself. Early settle ments, located on the plateaus or along the tributaries, indicate that they seemed to understand this logic and people used to settle - they farm on the plateaus, forest on the steep slopes, and live along the tributaries. All in balanced interaction with nature through the ecological floors created by the Vesdre River. The settlement which was mainly limited to the plateaus and tributaries started to push the limit by building closer and closer to the Vesdre River.

If we take a closer look at the lower town of Dolhain, we can see that it is one of the segments where the meandering is extreme. A path of a river is not a fixed line, but rather a dynamic process which is shaped by the flow of the river and disturbances. It is how the meanderings are formed and keep changing over a long period of time. The river always needs some space to overtake for this process to take smoothly. Like water, meanderings are also two-sided, the soft and the hard.

If we go from the inner curve to the outer curve in its cross-section the river gets deeper and the water moves faster.

(Figure 2.2.3) Wall of housing canalizing te river

(Figure 2.2.4) Meander of Vesdre and Social Housing

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

Pre-industrial settlements were strategically located along the soft side of the me andering. Later it started to extend to the hard side and very close to the edges of the river. Permanent built structures became the edges of the river denying it a sloped natural bank. Not only was the river canalized, the natural smooth curves

also were replaced by regularized straight lines. It was all going well in the antici pated limit and tolerance set by humans for years until last summer when made the darker side of the river became obvious.

After the catastrophic summer, both the trauma from the flood and the nostalgia of the good old times can be observed by walking around the town of Dolhain. Shops are being reopened, houses are being maintained, and a post-flood life has already started to kick in. However, it looks like the angry face of the river is now being forgotten again. There is still disbelief and denial not to take a radical step that can reverse the trajectory undertaken by urbanisation patterns in the most recent period. There is a lot of hesitation vis-à-vis the demolition of structures that are blocking and limiting the river. Is there a way to take bold actions to restore the landscape while keeping the need to stay and continue life? Perhaps more is possible, not only regenerate the landscape, but also heal the trauma and set a new way of enjoying the city.

(Figure 2.2.5) In between spaces - Social Housing Complex

(Figure 2.2.6) The western side of the meander along the steep slope

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

© Ermias Tessema Beyene, Base maps from Géoportail de La WallonieHillshade (2014) and Flooding(2021)

Design Vision and Strategic Project

Treat and Trick Along the Soft and Hard Side of the Vesdre Meandre

(Figure 2.3.3) Topography and Bathymetry Analysis with contourlines of 50 cm difference

To analyze the river as a moving entity, it is very important to see the microtopography transformations it made. The reading of the topography confirms the logic of a typical meander. The river is flowing faster and deeper on the outer edge of the curve, and slower laying sedimentation on the inner curve. The dotted blue line shows the interpreted flow of the river.

© Ermias Tessema Beyene, Calibrated and redrawn from a contour lines generated from DEM by (Géoportail de La Wallonie 2014)

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

(Figure 2.4.1) Section Before (1) - How to Build on the Soft Side of the Meandre

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

(Figure 2.4.2) Section Before (2) - How to Build on the Soft Side of the Meandre

How to Build on the Soft and Hard Side of the Meander?

Fig 2.4.1 Shows how to build on the soft side of the meander. The social infrastructure building is elevated to keep a natural surface on the ground while protecting its floors from flooding. It serves the previous sports activities, restaurant but in a version which can work with the new softscape and flooding. Plus it also serves as a means of escape.

Fig 2.4.2 shows building on the hard side. the housing complex replacing the demolished residences is built adjacent to the outer curve of the river where there is no natural surface under the building rather uses cut and fill to elevate the residences to create floodable common area for gardening is proposed.

© Ermias Tessema Beyene

(Figure 2.4.3) Proposed Strategy

Create Softscapes on the soft side (Inner Curve of the Meander) and Protect on the hard side

Re-naturalization the river is choregraphed according to the soft and hard side of the meander - sof tening on the inner curve and protect on the outer one. Rebuilding what is taken by the flooding is also based on which side of the meandering is the site located.

Figure 2.4.4 Social Infrastructure, Unprogrammed Canopy and Housing

Re-naturalized walkways as a means to guarantee continuity in the landscape structure is one of the propositions at the municipal ity scale. This green/blue system will be the new urban front for the new Dolhain creating a social infrastructure system indicated in orange in the image on the right. The circular building 1 is a continuation of this system of social infrastructure taking the form of leisure and sport. It also serves as an escaping structure during extreme events.

This social infrastructure is then connected to the island 2 formed as a result of protecting the hard side of the main river line and re-articulation of the secondary branch according to its soft and hard sides. This Island will be a place where temporary activities are going to happen. It is assisted by two canopies strategically placed on the two ends according to the view next to them.

The housing complex 3 is part of the blue-green system with the green chords passing through the residential spaces connecting the river with the steep slope trees. The communal gardening and flood management with cut and fill is also part of the renaturaliza tion strategy.

Ermias Tessema Beyene

Open Terrace

Leisure / Escape platform

Gymnasium

Vertical Circulation Climbing Activity

Screen for semi privacy Sunlight control

Indoor Sport

Public Ramp (Circulation + Activity

Soft Mobility

Figure 2.4.6 Exploded diagram illustrating components of the vertical social infrastructure

The facility is connected with the soft mobility with a semi-public ramp that enables walking and exercising. The two intermediate levels serve as multi-functional sports halls while the rooftop terrace is used for a restaurant and escaping. The ground floor will be given to the grassland that is connected with the river.

Communal Typology with gardening

25 units

Town House typology

Communal Apartment 12 units 5 units

Floodable Gardening

Figure 2.4.7 Exploded diagram Illustrating the components of the residential complex

Diversity of typologies to attract different kinds of needs and users to give freedom for individuality while providing gardeining activities to encourage communality

Public access + Vegetation

Case Study

The following three cases address one respective challenge of the design exploration employed in the tissue proposed in this project – re-naturalize the meander, rebuild social infrastructure, and housing that fosters commonality and vibrance.

01 Treating the soft side of a meander

PARC DU PEUPLE DE L'HERBE

Agence TER

Carrières-sous-Poissy, France 2013

Parc

Parc Du Peuple De L'herbe, translated as “Grass People's Park” is an ecological recreational area covering 113 hectars of land, located in Carrières-sous-Poissy, France. The park, designed by the Parisian landscape architecture firm Agence TER, is realized in a process that took more than 6 years. The park has dual objec tives according to Michel Hössler, founder of Agence TER, to rectify the heavily extracted site into an ecologically rich landscape and to give the locals and others a place for leisure and learning(Hössler & Agence TER, 2021).

The park proposes to adopt a position of reception of the water, protective of na ture, accompanied by a device of paths and platforms of observations allowing the public to go down to the river and appreciate the remodelled banks (Agence Ter, 2013). The creation of a large grassland area with herbaceous vegetation forms in the centre of this park, an ecological reserve favourable to specific fauna, as well as a place to welcome and observe insects.

(Figure 2.5.2) Proposed Strategy

De L'herbe

The site was previously a quarry site for the extraction of aggregates and is located in the inner curve of the meandering of the Seine. Since the speed of the river is slow in this inner part of the meander it causes less erosion, forming, instead, a deposit of alluvial soil. This gives an opportunity to invite water in further and create a wet landscape of increased biodiversity. Restoration and enhancement of habitats, fauna and flora, as well as banks, modification of the topography, devel opment of paths, and construction of an observatory and an insect museum (with a breeding room), have transformed this old abandoned aggregate quarry into an atypical and marvellous space (Mevel, 2018).

The project has this strong notion of treating the soil as a living element. Though it is a non-living entity, it should not be thought as detached from the life-enabling role it plays. Gilles Gallinet, the geologist for this project, said that soil, unlike oth er elements of the natural ecosystem, has no regulation to be protected from such damages that happened on this site (Hössler & Agence TER, 2021). The process of restoring the land has taken a long process of slight interventions of working on soil and the topography (Hössler & Agence TER, 2021). They cut the soil bit by bit from the alluvial strikes into the dry excavated area. This reworking of soil sped up the process of recovering the landscape.

The process was successful in achieving its goal of decreasing the loss of biodiver sity. According to Michel Hössler (2021), the counting they did, based on interna

tional indicators, has shown growth both in the number of existing species and the number of new arrivals to the site. In addition to restoring and improving biodi versity, the site also plays the role of phytoremediation in cleaning the polluted air through a natural process.

Du Peuple

The parallel objective of this project was to create a high-quality space for public use both for local residents and the Paris metropolitan region. Though the park is primarily dedicated to preserving and nurturing biodiversity, humans are also part of the project and integrated into the park in a controlled manner. Apart from providing fields for play and sports activities, the regenerated flora and fauna itself Is the main attraction. It is a place where people can explore and learn about insects – not as something that bites and needs to be avoided but as an integral part of the food chain and biodiversity.

This 113 hectares of park is a place of walking and discovery facilitated by elevated walkways, viewing decks insect museum, and a stilt structure for watching. It has 13 kilometres of lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, and a 2.8 kilometres long shore line. The buildings in the park are intended to give visitors the opportunity to view the landscape and experience new things in nature (Puskas et al., 2018). The Poissy Galore Observation Tower – a 15 m high white steel construction – is worth men tioning. It is a still structure stood on stilts to allow nature to take over the ground floor and to give an elevated platform to watch this large park.

02. Creating a lively social infrastructure

SESC 24 DE MAIO Carrières-sous-Poissy, France

Context: Sao Paulo and Serviço Social do Comércio

The good reputation of the city of Sao Paulo is, unlike other mega cities in the world, it invested in architectural infrastructures that can serve the whole public (Talesnik, 2020). High-quality facilities which typically would be built for a few who can afford them are serving the whole public. In their book and exhibitions titled Access for All: São Paulo's Architectural Infrastructures, Andres Lepik and Daniel Talesnik (2019) have documented several vertical social infrastructures that are multifunctional and aimed at achieving social sustainability for locals. The buildings incorporate both old and contemporary elements, but all are reviewed based on their current state.

Paulo Mendes da Rocha + MMBB Arquitetos

Among these buildings is, SESC 24 de Maio, originally built as part of buildings which proliferated in the ’60s by a collectively funded institution called SESCServiço Social do Comércio which can be translated as Social Service for Com mercial workers (Beaumont, 2019). There are around 600 SESC centres across Sao Paulo hosting a range of cultural and leisure activities. Daniel Talenisk (2020) sees these inheritances of the communist past as a seed for the proliferation of social in frastructures that can give recreational and cultural hubs for the “Workers of Com merce”. The adaptive reuse done by Paulo Mendes da Rocha and MMBB Arquette on SESC 24 gave this building a new life but with a similar populist intention.

© paulisson miura

(Figure 2.5.4)

(Figure 2.5.5)

A Stack of Leisures - A Smooth Flow

Lina Bo Bardi, the architect who designed the SESC Pompéia, an archetype of such multifunctional pleasure places in Sao Paulo, said ‘cultural’ has an obligatory sense and doesn’t invite people to engage in leading to “traumatized dullness” (Beau mont, 2019). It is always a mix – art, physical activity, swimming, play, etc… The same essence is also elaborately present at SESC 24. The stacking of activities in this building includes a gallery area, a double-height sports hall, food courts, climb ing, a swimming pool on top, flexible space, gardening, and a dental clinic. These activities are not simply overlapped one on top of the other, rather, a relation be tween the different programs is maintained by using double stories, double ceiling heights, open downs, etc. (Arch Daily & Vada, 2017). Such interplay between levels is also perceivable from the outside which gave some peculiarity to the building. To maximize this experience the mechanical and technical facilities are separately treated in an auxiliary building service tower which is built in a newly acquired plot next to it.

“Talking to a colleague in São Paulo, I was told that the SESCs were buildings for all ages, and I thought he meant that they cater to all age groups, but he then explained that the real meaning was that one person can go to the same building throughout his entire life and will find suitable activities”(Talesnik, 2020).

One of the emphasized intentions we can see from the architects’ note is work ing on the circulation system to guarantee a smooth flow of movement vertically across the sequences of the versatile activities. with the animation of the neigh bourhood on the ground floor (Arch Daily & Vada, 2017). The underground floor is reworked to be a theatre space and a café which is also connected with the street 24 de Maio seamlessly with a sloping street that creates a welcoming environment towards the spacious halls inside. Then a continuous ramp with a character of a gallery is introduced to keep walking as the main means of experiencing the com plex.

SESC 24 was successful in becoming the social condenser that it wanted to be. On an average day of the week, ten thousand users will come to the complex and the food court which is anticipated to serve seven hundred meals a day and now sells thirteen hundred (Beaumont, 2019). Like the other social condensers before it, it is a statement by itself, showing and nurturing the power of collectivity.

© Ciro Miguel

02 How to foster identity and commoning in a social housing neighbourhood?

TRAUMHAUS FUNARI

Traumhaus Funari is collaboration between a modular building producer Traum haus the firm MVRDV in Manhaim (MVRDV, 2022). Two key elements can be highlighted from this new approach toward suburban development to create a rich and diverse community. Two themes are notable in this project - encouraging indi viduality by using a variety of typologies and communality by means of continuous park spaces.

The marketing bias observed in this collaboration further refined the project and contributed a lot to the realization of its intentions. It offered a multitude of op tions and ruled with a catalogue approach which lets users choose typologies, sizes and colours according to their family size, income, and individual taste. The range

of typologies involved detached, houses on stilts for future expansion, apartment units, etc. This catalogue based itself on the previous Traumhaus typology taking it as Traumhaus 1.0 and size variation as 1.1,1.2, … (Stouhi, 2021). A matrix of typologies is developed as Traumhaus 2.0, 2.1,…

Furthermore, The whole site can be perceived as a park system, with resident gar dening, fruit alleys, butterfly gardens playgrounds, connected through footpaths and alleys(Stouhi, 2021). The variation in typologies allows having different ways of gardening by the use of various species of plants the project intends to increase biodiversity. while helping the neighbourhood to have richness in color.

Carrières-sous-Poissy, France

References

Agence Ter. (2013). Parc du peuple de l’herbe. https://agenceter.com/project/parc-du-peuple-de-lherbe (Accessed June 12, 2022)

Arch Daily, & Vada, P. (2017). Sesc 24 de Maio / Paulo Mendes da Rocha + MMBB Arquitetos. ArchDaily. https://www.archdaily.com/893553/sesc-24-de-maio-paulomendes-da-rocha-plus-mmbb-arquitetos?ad_medium=gallery (Accessed June 12, 2022)

Beaumont, E. (2019, October 14). Social climber: SESC 24 de Maio cultural centre in São Paulo, Brazil by Paulo Mendes da Rocha and MMBB ArquitetosArchitectural Review. Architectural Review. https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/social-climber-sesc-24-de-maio-cultural-centre-in-sao-paulo-brazil-bypaulo-mendes-da-rocha-and-mmbb-arquitetos (Accessed June 12, 2022)

Hössler, M., & Agence TER. (2021). SOLS VIVANTS. In Conférence à la Galerie d’Architecture à Paris. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93x1dQe8fik&t=419s&ab_ channel=AgenceTER

Lepik, A., & Talesnik, D. (2019). Access for all : São Paulo‘s Architectural Infrastructures. In Access For All: São Paulo’s Architectural Infrastructures. Park Books. Mevel, N. (2018, November 13). Le Parc du Peuble de l’Herbe par les paysagistes de l’agence Ter et les architectes des agences AWP + HHF. ARCHITECTURES A VIVRE. https://www.avivremagazine.fr/le-parc-du-peuble-de-l-herbe-par-les-paysagistes-de-l-agence-ter-et-les-architectes-des-agences-awp-hhf-a2061 MVRDV. (2022). Traumhaus Funari. https://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/239/traumhaus-funari (Accessed June 12, 2022) Puskas, T., Frommenwiler, S., & Chambolle, D. (2018). Der Aussichtsturm “Poissy Galore” im Parc du Peuple de l’Herbe. 12. https://doi.org/10.1002/stab.201800028 Stouhi, D. (2021, July 20). MVRDV’s Vibrant Residential Neighborhood Traumhaus Funari Breaks Ground | ArchDaily. Arch Daily. https://www.archdaily. com/965381/mvrdvs-vibrant-residential-neighborhood-traumhaus-funari-breaks-ground(Accessed June 12, 2022) Talesnik, D. (2020). Access for All: São Paulo’s Architectural Infrastructures. Mas Context. https://www.mascontext.com/observations/access-for-all-sao-paulosarchitectural-infrastructures/ (Accessed June 12, 2022)

Figures

Figure 2.1.2: Prepared by Author

Flooding Map from(Anon. Cartographie de l’aléa d’inondation (en vigueur). [Map]. n.s. Géoportail de la Wallonie. Service public de Wallonie (SPW). https:// geoportail.wallonie.be/catalogue/14084108-2c7b-4091-b62d-ff0fc235213a.html (accessed: 16. June 2022)).

Relief map from (Relief de la Wallonie - Modèle Numérique de Terrain (MNT) 2013-2014 - Hillshade. [Map]. n.s. Géoportail de la Wallonie. Service public de Wallonie (SPW). https://geoportail.wallonie.be/catalogue/f3cdf392-a569-423e-889e-186c5e647cd3.html. (accessed: 16. June 2022))

The flood risk by overflow and runoff includes areas likely to be flooded in a more or less significant and/or frequent manner, following the natural overflow of a watercourse and the concentration of rainwater runoff.

Figure 2.1.3: Organized Adrean (group member) base maps from (Géoportail de la Wallonie. https://geoportail.wallonie.be)

Figure 2.1.6-8: Prepared by Author during the workshop.

Figure 2.2.1-6: Field work pictures taken by author

Figure 2.3.1 Contour redrawn and calibrated by author Contour generated from Digital Terrain Map. [Map]. n.s. Géoportail de la Wallonie. Service public de Wallonie (SPW). (Relief de la Wallonie - Modèle Numérique de Terrain (MNT) 2013-2014 - Sans interpolation, https://geoportail.wallonie.be/catalogue/0bc90b40-74f9-43d6-9a18468a65e6f048.html

Figure 2.4.1-2.4.7 Prepared by Author During Studio Work

Figure 2.5.1-2.5.2 Agence Ter. (2013). Parc du peuple de l’herbe. https://agenceter.com/project/parc-du-peuple-de-lherbe

Figure 2.5.3 by paulisson miura. Sesc 24 de Maio, (projeto Paulo Mendes da Rocha e MMBB), São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

Figure 2.5.4-2.4.5 Lepik, A., Talesnik, D., Miguel, C., & Technische Universität München. Architekturmuseum. (2019). Access for all : São Paulo’s architectural infrastructures.

Figure 2.5.6-2.5.7 MVRDV. (2022). Traumhaus Funari. https://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/239/traumhaus-funari

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH

Reterritorialization in a post-flood Limbourg

Landscape Urbanism in the East-West

A critical reflection on two practice-based lectures

Summary

The following critical reflection is on the two lectures that took place in Liege and Lisbon on April 28 and May 18 respectively. The former is titled “Water Urbanism in the Asian Context” by Professor Kelly Shannon at a workshop held at the Uni versity of Liege and the latter is titled “Regeneration and Change” by Luis Ribeiro, Catarina Raposo & Samuel Alcobia representing the office Baldios Aquitetos Pais agistas in Lisbon. Both lectures presented a practice-based lecture on a Landscape Urbanism approach using three projects to highlight how they interpreted the con text in landscape terms, proposed ecologically sustainable plans, and respective contextual challenges faced in the process. The reflection is written using three themes – the reading and mapping of the landscape, the regenerative approach and the issue of ownership and territory.

(Corner, 2011, p. 213). Though not as strongly highlighted as it is in the lecture in Liege, a similar role is indicated in the Lisbon lecture as well. Here, the emphasis was on mapping the potential of the site both for the recovery of the natural land scape and the creation of the proposed park. The mapping, however, seems to be targeted towards the intended project and practicality, as it was done within the limits of private properties and the plot map has been given extra emphasis which limited the reading of the landscape logic.

Reversing the Anthropocene

Reading the Landscape

In both lectures, the reading of the landscape takes the first step. In Shannon’s lecture, the mapping process by itself played a major role in defining not just the proposed intervention but the way the country is thinking about development.

In particular, the map that shows the bathymetry and the topography of the area drawn together as one system of wetness has revealed what has been intentional ly or unintentionally out of the minds of the decision-makers. The mapping here did exactly what James Corner was describing in his essay titled “The Agency of Mapping “… as a creative practice, mapping precipitates its most productive effects through a finding that is also a founding; its agency lies in neither reproduction nor imposition but rather in uncovering realities previously unseen or unimagined”

The other common intention of the lectures was to show how the respective pro jects were trying to recover a landscape that was affected by humans through waves of actions. In the first lecture - alteration of vegetation for agriculture - reengineer ing of the landscape through dykes, canal systems to drain swamps, and land mak ing with sands – chemical weapons in the American war etc. have been mentioned as actions which caused damage to the natural system of the delta. Whereas in the Lisbon lecture agricultural practices, eucalyptus afforestation, extraction of lime stone, and building of road infrastructure have been mentioned.

Both have reflected similar intentions of recovering the landscape using their re spective projects. The Lisbon lecture highlighted using abandoned lands for such purpose and using it as social infrastructure to also regenerate the socio-cultural aspects of the users. It has a similar approach with Alan Berger’s drosscapes for the brownfields of America (Berger, 2006). The Vietnamese approach is more about

integrating it into the country’s ambition of economic growth and development. It has a ‘yes-but’ approach, confirming the developmental ambition of the society but proposing a contextual and ecologically sensitive approach.

Dealing with Ownership and Boundaries

Coincidentally both lectures have mentioned a motto with a similar connotation in their lecture. “Water knows no boundaries” and “Landscape has no owner”. In both statements, we see a fight picked with the ownership and boundary-making of the status quo. In the lecture by Shannon, this begins by taking the Mekong Delta both in Vietnam and Cambodia as one system. This led to a finding that the upper streams are wetter than the down streams, unlike the usual expectation. Then the first project proposes a new way of zoning the country based on an agro ecological reading of the site. These agroecological zones are further reinforced by proposing contextual economic activity and urbanism. In the other lecture by the Lsicon-based practitioners, this sets the tone for the whole lecture. Since only 5% of the land was owned by the public, the process involved a multidisciplinary approach with legal and economic expertise and the creation of different scenarios to work in collaboration with different stakeholders. J.B Jackson, in his text titled “The Word Itself”, defines landscape as a territory with its own distinct logic and a certain degree of permanence, at one point in his discourse of finding the essence in the word ‘landscape’ (Jackson, 2009). However, in both lectures the political and social challenges they faced in this process, shed light on how difficult it is to achieve this intention of transcending the human-made boundaries to give the landscape autonomy can be observed.

Reterritorialization in a post-flood Limbourg A Design Research Exploration

Introduction

The agency of landscape urbanism involves restoration – to recover the ecological riches lost by human actions in the past and to set a new way of inhabiting within the framework set by the landscape. The process can also be understood as a re-ter ritorialisation process where nature takes back territories claimed by humans using its own logic. That means the boundaries previously set by humans and the level of autonomy we exercise in it will be a challenge for this process. That stays to be the trap that hinders the municipalities on the Vesdre floodplain from addressing the flooding problem they faced in the summer of 2021 (VRT NWS, 2021). Regardless of the alarm signalled by the catastrophic flooding that took many lives and live lihoods, the corrective measures by the municipalities will be far from bringing a sustainable solution as it is limited within the framework of publicly owned lands.

In this essay, I will first discuss the concept of “territory” as innate - defined by the landscape and as imposed – dictated by the socio-political causes of human ac tions. I will elaborate on this notion in further using an indigenous case where the settlement structure is born out of the natural landscape. Then, I will try to show the need to restore, the proposition by the municipality, and design exploration by our studio’s team in Limbourg, one of the municipalities in Vesdre floodplain. Finally, we will conclude by suggesting and asserting the need for the landscape to reterritorialize over our urban fabrics, but through negotiation and compromise with the existing morphology.

with conflict, negotiation, power and autonomy. Stuart Elden in his essay in the book Landscape as territory, explains this political sense of territorialization using four aspects of it (Elden, 2019). The first two are political-economic and polit ical-strategic. The former sees territory as land, in terms of what it can yield or produce, while the latter is concerned with terrain and relates with the strategic essence of territories such as military and power. Then, he adds two more: po litical-legal which deals with the applicability of one’s law and political-technical which has to do with knowing, measuring and counting. Similar elements with certain variations are also present in smaller scale territories such as provinces, municipalities and even individual plots.

Such understanding of “territory” – not as a given static element rather as a process with all the backings and processes associated with it – is very helpful. It opens the door to question its autonomy and permanence or to alter one of the four parame ters mentioned above while keeping it where it is. This gives room for a restorative process of Landscape Urbanism to transcend boundaries, and for the landscape to define its own territory.

Territory is one of the four necessary elements in Max Weber’s famous definition of a State – together with a group of people, monopoly of power and, legitimacy among other peers (Weber, 1968). In this political sense, territory has a lot to do

Such a conflict between the imposed territories by humans and innate territories of the natural system characterizes early practices of Landscape Urbanism. The com ing of Landscape urbanism as a mainstream practice is in response to the modern ist master planning (Shane, 2006), which is criticized as human-centred, rigid, and obsessed with clarifying and rationalizing land use. Behind this tendency, there is an assumption of the ability to know and predict what happens in each square me ter of land. This ambition is further empowered by mapping technologies and sur veying tools (Elden, 2019). The failure of this way of city planning as was evident in post-Fordist cities, like Detroit, has given birth to practices which use landscape as a base for city planning and urban design, what we know today as “Landscape Urbanism” (Shane, 2006).

These practices from the beginning were challenging this modernist planning’s obsession with dictating every piece of land. Whether the performative approaches from the likes of James Corner, or drosscapes towards brownfields by Alan Berg er, or Waldheim’s four stepped proposal to colonize Detroit with nature - they all involve working with voids, abandoned land, or marginal territories (Shane 2006).

This shows two aspects of the practice relevant to our discussion topic – landscape urbanism as a re-territorialization process, and its post-structuralist tendency of it. In contrast to the modernist planning approach, such practices have a post-mod ernist or post-structuralist tendency; they welcome indeterminacy, incorporate unprogrammed activities, and give room for future possibilities.

Practitioners with an ecological bias stress the importance of giving natural pro cesses a priority to structure the urban morphology. Michael Hough, for instance, proposed for an ecological process to be the framework of an urban design (Scheer, 2011). Assigning green areas for nature and claiming the rest for urbanization is no more a sustainable approach to designing cities. Landscape urbanism’s preva lent idea is its insistence on reading the existing natural systems and using them as the main structuring element for urban planning and design (Sheer 2011). As discussed in the introduction, if the agency of landscape urbanism is also to restore and recover what is damaged by the Anthropocene, giving autonomy to the land scape in defining its own territory should be the main line of action.

Giving autonomy to nature can take two forms. One is when the inhabitation fol lows the landscape logic from the beginning, and the other is when the damage is already done, and the process is recolonizing it. We will see an indigenous case from Ethiopia for the former and the case of Limbourg for the latter.

Nature setting the Territories:

An indigenous case from Ethiopian Highlands

As mentioned above, this obsession to identify and claim territories with the pre cision that we have today has a modernist, developmental and colonization root. Therefore, looking at indigenous ways of defining territories has a lot to offer in learning new ways of marking territories. Practices that try to map territories for indigenous people (Sletto, 2009) have learned that the boundaries are blurred, dy namic and full of overlaps and unprogrammed lands. We will take a look at the Gurage people in the highlands of Ethiopia whose settlement pattern is guided by the existing watershed system.

The watershed of the Winike river in this climate is characterized by closely spaced streamlines covering an area of around 900 square kilometres. The people of Gu raghe inhabiting the highland part (locally knowns as Dega) have developed a unique way of adjusting their land plots along and within these streams. The divi sion of the plots is very egalitarian, and this extends to the way the society is organ ized; there is a little hierarchical relationship among members of the community. We can say the ecological structure of the watershed gave birth not only to the set tlement pattern of the society but also to the socio-political fabric. The settlement pattern emerged out of the existing ecological structure; the artificial is a produc tion of the natural. Hence what Jackson called the “vernacular landscape” where the political element is minimal or influenced by the natural is created (Jackson, 2009).

© Source

Figure 3.2.1 The settlement structure of the Gurage people in Gumer (Google Earth 2021)

The settlement takes place on the plateau between two streams. In between the streams, there is another line of the social spine which serves as a means of mo bility and communal area. On the two sides of this wide line, housing plots have arranged one next to the other. If we observe its cross-section, a single-family gets a strip of land extending from the streamline until the communal space that is located midway.

The fact that the land is divided, doesn’t mean there is no continuity of ecologi cal systems, forests and grasslands continue across the privately owned plots. Two main continuous social systems go across private properties. The first one has a social character and is located on the higher topography located exactly halfway between the rivers. This is the place where traditional festivities including the fa mous “Mesqel celebration” and traditional judicial ceremonies come about. The second one is where food and fibre processing takes place, in groups locally known as “Wusacha” by taking turns in individual “enset” backyards.This is another exam ple of continuity of landscape systems and functions across private properties. This way, the lower streamline is more protected because, generally, as they get to be ad jacent to the river, fewer activities occur and the higher part is dedicated to living and social activities. Flood control is also integrated into this system by keeping forestry at the lower level on the riverbank and halfway through an orchard forest for survival.

Here it is not that “we shape our environment, and the environment shapes us”, rather, it is the natural environment that shapes our environment and the envi ronment shapes us. Such a sustainable way of in-habiting, according to the logic of

the natural landscape is what is lost in the modernization schemes, where humans claimed territories from nature and assigned functions that disregard the logic of the landscape.

Imposed Territories as a Hurdle to Restoring: Limbourg

The flooding that happened in July 2021 (VRT NWS, 2021) has tested and exposed many flaws in the way our built environment is structured. First, it confirmed the infamous saying that “there is no such thing as a natural disaster”. The causes of the flooding were all related to a series of actions that transpired around the valley in the past, mainly during the industrial era of the 19th Century – the draining of the heathland located in the upper valley west of Eupen City for afforestation, settling in the flood plain closer to the edges of the river, canalization and manipulation of the riverbank, sealing of ground surfaces, and building of hard infrastructures. This is a manmade disaster, a result of continuous interventions in the valley claim ing lands from the urban desires.

This catastrophe disclosed the evident need for what has been promoted by the landscape urbanists all along – for an urbanism rooted in the natural, ecological and historical reading of landscapes. Such a crisis has been a blessing in disguise for Landscape urbanism to thrive. It can be recalled how the post-Fordist shrinking city of Detroit became a platform for the proliferation of earlier landscape urban ism proposals that imagine a nature colonizing back the abandoned urban struc tures (Shane, 2006). As the failure of the Fordist city invited such nature-based practices, the failure of the past urbanization in the flood plain to be resilient to the disaster invites nature to assume authority again in determining the urbanization process – to re-territorialize.

Many practitioners from various spectrum of fields are now in Wallonia, figuring out what the problems were and suggesting sustainable ways of dealing with them. “Build Back Better BBB” course, a collaboration between KU Leuven’s Interna tional Center of Urbanism and the University of Liege (ICOU, 2021) is one of the initiatives but with a Landscape Urbanism approach. Both in the “BBB” and the “Studio Urban Fabrics”, a design course, one challenge has been apparent from at tempts of restoring the site complicated - to at least a state where it can manage the flooding through natural means. Many parts where it is better to re-naturalize and invite the water and biodiversity are full of privately owned properties that make it expensive to deal with. A similar problem was being repeatedly mentioned by the people in the municipal administration; buildings that are built in a high-risk zone are either already privately owned or there is no public land to relocate them to. The ability to alter things in favour of the common good is limited to a few publicly owned areas which made the propositions far from addressing the problem.

Figure 3.2.1 Aeral image of a typical Jeforo (Gurage zone Tourism Culture and Sport office, 2019)

During the field visit to Limbourg, we had an opportunity to look at the strategic development proposition for the municipality developed independently from the study at a larger scale for the whole Vesdre valley. The proposal shows the shift in the thinking from the anthropocentric approach of engineering the landscape furtherwithprotectivestructures,towardanature-basedone.Buyingprivateholdings located in risky areas that are damaged by the flooding and moving public infrastructures for the sake of creation of softscapes for the water to take over are some of the strategies highlighted in the plan. However, in the city centre where the plot structure gets dense with more private holdings, there is little intervention to give space to the water.

Re-territorialization by the Natural System in Limbourg

Ourproposalhadcorrespondingchallengeswhenrecommendingalandscapesystemthataddressestheissueoftheriverandlaystheblueprintforasustainableway of urbanizing. Though the ideal situation is to naturalize all the riverbank and be at a good distance away from the river, we followed an in-between approach which is based on the logic of the meander. Instead of softening everywhere, only the soft side or the inner curve of the meander gets to be softened using marshlands and riparian forests. We implemented protection on the hard side. The next approach is to connect this system with the forest on the steep side of the valley using streets and alleys with a strip of trees.

If we see our strategy in terms of territorialization, it is about letting the landscape systems colonize the valley and connect with each other. The continuity of the proposed ecological structure along the river crossing green chords to the forests on thesteepsideandthentothehedgesontheplateauisimportant.Suchaconnected structure crosses a lot of private properties, backyards, industrial areas etc. The territory, we imagined for the landscape to take over, conflicts with the existing territories set by the urban system. The workaround to mitigate the two is partly finding a way and partly a provocation.

First, we set out to utilize overlooked public properties such as streets and schools as much as possible. The strategic project at the site where two schools are located next to the soft side of the meander in the lower city of Dolhain (Page XX) reimagines the school as a social infrastructure that also acts as a natural means of flood control The sealed asphalt streets are proposed to be a new green urban front. When the ecological structure had to pass through individual properties we assumed a negotiated outcome, where the owners keep the property to themselves but expected to permit the continuity of the system across their backyards. The bidding for the landscape to dominate and define its territory is toned down

with the existing urban structure. It is not the environment shaping the settlement as in the case of Guraghe highlands, rather it is about letting nature colonize back following its own logic.

Conclusion

Indeed, the natural system takes primacy over imposed territories. The innate logic of the ecosystem should govern how the rest of the urban morphology organizes itself, not the other way around. There are plenty of indigenous cases to support this where the territory is not claimed as a fixed identified entity; the boundaries diffuse and overlap, the territories are mobile, or they are fixed but drawn with the logic of the landscape.

What about cases like Limbourg, where the damage is already done? Here is where the early intentions of landscape urbanists come in. The process is for the land scape to re-territorialize and claim what is taken from it through time. The existing fabric will continue to be on the way; therefore, it will be a compromise. Landscape Urbanism is a compromise, as Graham Shane put it we cannot let the nature to in vade us all the way we need the people in the end (Shane, 2006); its task to restore the damages of the past should also find a way for a sustainable means to inhabit, access and enjoy the restored landscape. Therefore the nature negotiates, it will take the in-betweens – alleys, backyards, rooftops, streets, parking spaces, etc; it is about defusing the imposed lines, inviting more indeterminacy and ambiguity.

References

Elden, S. (2019). Territory: Political Technology, Volume, Terrain. In C. O. Sanjuan (Ed.), Landscape as Territory (p. 215). Actar. ICOU. (2021). Build Back Better in the Vesdre Valley - Academic Year 2021-2022 – International Center of Urbanism (ICoU). International Center of Urbanism ICOU. https://set.kuleuven.be/icou/events/news/news-2021-2022-1/building-back-better-in-the-vesdre-valley-academic-year-2021-2022 (Accessed June 12, 2022)

Jackson, J. B. (2009). Discovering the vernacular landscape. In J. B. Jackson (Ed.), Discovering the vernacular landscape (pp. 145–158). Yale University Press. Scheer, B. (2011). Metropolitan form and landscape urbanism. In T. Banerjee & A. Loukaitou-Sideris (Eds.), Companion to Urban Design (pp. 611–618). Routledge. Shane, G. (2006). The Emergence of Landscape Urbanism. In C. Waldheim (Ed.), The Landscape Urbanism Reader (pp. 53–59). Princeton Architectural Press. http:// umass.academia.edu/MichaelCote/Papers/10739/_Landscape_Urbanism_Fetish_

Sletto, B. (2009). `Indigenous people don’t have boundaries’: reborderings, fire management, and productions of authenticities in indigenous landscapes: Cultural Geographies, 16(2), 253–277.

VRT NWS. (2021, July 18). 90 percent of Walloon municipalities hit by the floods, death toll is still rising. Vlaamse Radio- En Televisieomroeporganisatie. https://www. vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2021/07/18/from-railroads-to-tap-water-the-impact-of-the-floods-is-huge/ (Accessed June 12, 2022)

Figures

Figure 3.2.1: “Gumer · Ethiopia.” [Map]. n.s. Google Maps, December 2018. Accessed November 22, 2021, https://www.google.com/maps/@8.0418726,38.0596687,207 64m/data=!3m1!1e3.

Figure 3.2.2: Gurage zone Tourism Culture and Sport office, “Christmass at Gumer Woreda.” Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation, December, 2019

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

OF URBANISM LANDSCAPE AND PLANNING