Interaction moments in the history of the Berm and themes for discussion

INTERACTION MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF DE BERM AND THEMES FOR DISCUSSION Made at the occasion of Gebermte 2019 for Institutional Aspects of Spatial Planning (IASP) and International Commons Workshop (ICW) - Annex to the IASP and ICW brief

Prepared by LAVINIA IȘAN and WOSSEN GEBREYOHANNES BALCHA Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. Pieter Van den Broeck Tutor: ir. Sofia Saavedra Bruno M.A Master of Urbanism and Strategic Planning KU Leuven June 2019

The Berm as it is today stands at the core of a research which looks at the history of urbanization in the south of Antwerp, starting from the disappearance of commons in Flanders in the 19th century. The history of the Berm takes shape by reconstructing interaction moments on a macro timeline (up until 1974) and on a micro timeline (from 1974 up until today). The research was also the basis of the action research interventions which were produced during the Institutional Aspects of Spatial Planning and International Commons Workshop (18-25th of May, 2019).

1.

The berm as a case of land consumption and re-commoning

Given its specific location, it is intriguing to encounter a three-kilometer-long ‘abandoned’ topography in Antwerp’s so-called 20th century suburban belt, sometimes seen as the densest municipalities of Flanders1. The old railway embankment ‘de berm’ poses as a misfit left-over land, a natural topography, a green space, a reminder of the past as well as uncertainty of the future. It is quite evident that de berm is an embodiment of ‘exceptions’ at present day regarding land use, management, ownership regimes. In these exceptions lie its potentials as a questionable spatial manifestation of the ‘commons’.

The analysis below shows how the area where de berm is currently located, has for centuries suffered from land consumption, privatization, speculation and fragmentation, but also from the imposition of large scale military and industrial infrastructure like military forts, the railway and its embankment itself, and two big factories Minerva and Gevaert, which weren’t necessarily beneficial to the local residents.

Possibly the embankment was even used as an opportunity to dump waste from the construction sector.

Also, in the more recent history and today, de berm area has been threatened by speculative practices and infrastructural projects serving interests far beyond the local residents’ ones. Examples include the use of the space to create a 2x2 road in Wilrijk in the 1970s, successfully contested ideas to extend that pattern in Mortsel and the Flemish government’s 2011 plans - again successfully contested - to create a ‘cut and cover’ tunnel as a kind of second ring road for Antwerp (the so-called R11bis).

However, the berm’s history is also connected to the rise of the environmental movement in the 1970s, protest in the 2010s against large scale infrastructure plans, and a re-commoning initiative of the berm since 2017.

In the next sections, the actor-institutional dynamics, including powerful agencies and social groups, are briefly portrayed for various key interaction moments.

2.

‘De Berm’ as a datum of imposition and speculation over land

The case of the Berm and its vicinity is a story of powerful agencies imposing and intervening on the process of urbanization. In this section, the macro-level overview of the history of urbanization in the area is portrayed based on key interaction moments articulated according to a shift in the logic of urban development and intrusion of powerful actors. The discussion is an attempt to build an understanding of 1

the macro level interplay between actors, agency, and institutions, extending from the time of Commons to the present day.

The specific year of 1847 is marked as the legal end of the commons as shared land rights in Belgium, because of the Law of compulsory privatization ('Le défrichement des terrains incultes')2. According to this law, all territories designated as common land and that where formerly confiscated by municipalities after the Law of 1793 ‘Décret concertant le mode de partage des bien communaux’3, were to be cleared and prepared for agricultural purposes under a private regime.

However, the implication was that most of the vast common land in the rural outskirts ended up in the hands of the urban bourgeoisie based in Antwerp, who later appropriated the land for recreational purposes, as a retreat from the city.4 One may consider this as the start of urban infiltration from the city to the peripheral agricultural territory, depriving peasant livelihood of the merits of the common land.

Nonetheless, a more severe imposition of land consumption followed in 1859 with the construction of forts for military purposes5(see map below). The fort system was laid out for the sake of national security, rendering Antwerp as the last line of defense. The forts took their military strategic positions expropriating agricultural livelihoods. The infrastructure of forts also came with a military road connecting the forts with supply and logistical support needed, which broke down the slow path network of connections from the time of the commons.

With the growth of the railway network after the first train in 18366, several train and tram lines developed rapidly in the 1870s. In 1878 a military railway was constructed over the military road, which worsened even more the efficiency and safety of the slow path network with frequent interruptions.

Forts around antwerp mapped by the year of construction -Source :- ‘Fortengordels Rond Antwerpen’ (2015). Provincie Antwerpen. Accessed 19 June 2019. https://www.provincieantwerpen.be/aanbod/drem/dienst-gebiedsgericht-beleid/fortengordels-rond-antwerpen.html.

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The years from 1847 to the late 1870s are the first years when Antwerp City started to triumph past its original periphery, giving the urban bourgeoisie recreational lands in the outskirts of Antwerp. With the economic growth of Antwerp due to the harbor expansion and efficient rail connections, the bourgeoisie was able to buy up more land and develop it into large parks and a recreational paradise in the proximity of the city. Their speculation over land in this process, supplemented by the ring infrastructure of the military, facilitated the land consumption process.

The next interaction moment 1878 marks the first non-radial railway line, and in 1879 the construction of leaner industrial development along the railway line from Hoboken to the Rupel stone quarries7, accelerated the land consumption in the area, by adding the powerful agency of industrial development. With the rail infrastructure lying along the footprint of the present-day berm, it diverted the radial consumption of land for industrial development, into tangential growth in relation to Antwerp. Here it is important to acknowledge the agency of the rail infrastructure (electrification in 19028), the military road, Antwerp City and industrial development, including the powerful actors involved, such as the national defense, rail companies, urban bourgeoisie and powerful industrialists like Lieven Gevaert9. The institutional setup of the time was transformed in 1904, the old wall around Antwerp was torn down and the vertical process of accumulation started to gradually spread horizontally10. Although the administrative boundaries were kept, one way or the other the city of Antwerp started to impose transcommunal and metropolitan alliances on the neighboring municipalities. One example for this is, part of Greater Antwerp vision to network the public space concentration in the center of the city to the planned future public parks in the horizontal agglomeration, which requires the inter municipality commitments(see map below).

Source: - “Les parcs publics dans l’agglomération Anversoise (Schobbens, 1924)” on Broes, Tom, and Michiel Dehaene. 2015. “Unbounded Urbanization and the Horizontal Metropolis : the Pragmatic Program of August Mennes in the Antwerp Agglomeration.” In the Horizontal Metropolis: A Radical Project, ed. Martina Barcelloni and Chiara Cavalieri, 483–495.

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The Greater Antwerp vision11 has been in the air since the turn of the century, although it actually started to take effect in subtle land encroachment when the local nobilities and urban bourgeoisie started to manipulate the land market by speculating through parks and big development tracts. whereas small peripheral Municipalities like Wilrijk and Edegem started to benefit from the investment by private families like Della Faille. The ‘Convention Della Faille’ was the leading means of extended horizontal tract development. The family of Della Faille later established a firm called Entreprises Anversoises (Extensa n.v.). The firm had as its main goal to buy up land from smaller estates (‘société immobilière’ 12) and prepare the land for development 13. The firm managed to acquire huge estates extending from Antwerp to Kontich through Wilrijk and Edegem.

The process of large-scale public-private registered tract development involving the whole Antwerp agglomeration required a shift in trans-communal politics, which has to do with imposed urbanization policies inscribing several municipalities14.

The extent of land acquisition by Extensa n.v.

Source:- Private Archives “Extensa n.v.” on Tom Broes and Michiel Dehaene, ‘Unbounded Urbanization and the Horizontal Metropolis: The Pragmatic Program of August Mennes in the Antwerp Agglomeration.’, 2019, 13.’

Right after the First World War, the Greater Antwerp vision started to take significant steps in the development of urban infrastructures and trans communal projects of basic sanitary, water supply, and mobility plans. The year 1922 marks an important interaction point since it was a time of direct development towards urbanization by collective consumption, like the PIDPA-plan for a water supply network, the General Sewer System for the Agglomeration GSSA (1921) and the Airport (1923)15. The Berm itself was also constructed in 1922 as a raised platform for an industrial railway, to avoid intersections with radial railways and tramways. The construction of shunting yards also contributed to the fast growth of industrial tracts by simplifying loading and unloading of goods and supply.

This pre-urbanization works on the area were the actual manifestation of the Greater Antwerp vision, which later realized unbounded urbanization and large-scale industrial development like MINERVA (1902-1956). In this process of consuming the local villages in the context, it is relevant to see the dominant agency of the state and Antwerp City along with the municipalities, while taking into consideration the absolute irrelevance of the forts, which was recognized after WWI because of advanced military technology. Hence, the role of the military as an important agency in the area declined until the forts were symbolically sold in the late 20th (starting from 1980s forts were transferred to their respective municipality and Fort 4 was transferred to municipality of Mortsel in 200016) century to their respective municipalities.

The main infrastructure lines of the sewer system for the Antwerp agglomeration.

Source :- “International Water Exhibition in Liège” on Broes, Tom, and Michiel Dehaene. 2015. “Unbounded Urbanization and the Horizontal Metropolis : the Pragmatic Program of August Mennes in the Antwerp Agglomeration.”

In The Horizontal Metropolis: A Radical Project, ed. Martina Barcelloni and Chiara Cavalieri, 483–495.

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MINERVA Gevaert Les Peupliers

Locations taken by MINERVA industry, Gevaert industry and Les Peupliers’ indicated on “Excerpt of a G.S.S.A. survey map. Superposing data on expected densification and increasing impermeability on top of existing and dispersed urbanization patterns that will be recollected into a new metropolitan figure. “17 Source:- “Antwerp City Archives, file n°533#1.” On Broes, Tom, and Michiel Dehaene. 2015.

“Unbounded Urbanization and the Horizontal Metropolis : the Pragmatic Program of August Mennes in the Antwerp Agglomeration.” In The Horizontal Metropolis: A Radical Project, ed. Martina Barcelloni and Chiara Cavalieri, 483–495.

With the dominant role of the state, Antwerp city and municipalities, Engineers emerged as very important actors of the time with the pre-urban and trans communal infrastructural development. Engineer August Mennes 19 was one of the very prominent actors working towards the making and realization of the infrastructural plans by bringing stakeholders together. The leading industrialists of the time were also very influential. Lieven Gevaert was more than an industrialist for the area of Mortsel, he was a prominent figure in organizing social and cultural civil society. He has played different roles like being the honorary chairman of Vlaamse Kring in Mortsel, he co-founded a Parents' Union in 1910, and he founded two schools for girls, among others.20 As a testament for his contribution, he is still commemorated with a standing statue for his contributions. Meanwhile, Sylvain de Jong of MINERVA was producing motorized bikes supporting easy commuting to Antwerp City21. In this sense, it is logical to assume that the production of mountable engines for bikes was part of promoting the unbounded stretching of Antwerp.

With regards to the local culture of local brewing, it was upscaled into ‘Les Peupliers’ by Jean Verbruggen in 1910, which was still standing and producing famous beers distributed by carriages and cars until it was demolished 1974 for single housing development22. Nonetheless, it is safe to assume that the industrial consumption of land in the area directly influenced the number of dwellers and the occupation type in the context.

It was during this time, that the municipalities as well as the city, started to open up for private investors that gradually became real estate tycoons. The development plans made by engineers like August Mennes in the 1920s and 1930s became the ruling principle for the development of the area. This by itself created increased land speculation based on designated zones of development. Moreover, the metropolitan grid was used to promote the process of land consumption for urbanization. After the disaster of the second world war and the bombing of Mortsel by the USA army missing their target Erla motor works at MINERVA site (used by the Germans to maintain their Luftwaffe planes 23), the Belgian state, especially the Flemish part (which was severely damaged by the war) pushed for a fast economic recovery. Important laws were launched in the years that followed after the war, which defined the following interaction moment of 1948.

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The 1946 Law of reconstructing the country24 and the 1948 ‘De Taeye’ Public housing law25, followed by the Law of slum clearance in 195326 created the fertile institutional setup for private tycoons like François Amelinckx and Jean-Florian Collin 27. These real-estate big players were able to manipulate the institutional setup in the years that followed through their extended capital regime from Antwerp city center to the peripheral newly urbanizing areas.

Among other reasons, they contributed to the need for suburbanization in combination with the economic recovery incentives after the war to facilitate the reconstruction of the country.

The newly gained ability of the lower and middle class to afford their own housing also contributed to the increased demand for the housing market28. On the other hand, the real estate big players, started to take advantage of the slum clearance law to build Source: - Antwerp city Archives- files 285#114 to 285#120 on Tom Broes and Michiel Dehaene, « Real expensive developments in the Estate Pioneers on the Metropolitan Frontier », Cidades[Online], 33 | 2016, Online since 02 March city center. In parallel, they were 2017,connection on 27 February 2019.URL:http://journals.openedition.org/cidades/292 http://journals.openedition.org/cidades/292. using subsidies for public housing, accommodating the middle class in the suburban areas like Wilrijk, in the south of Antwerp29. Collin founded “Etrimo Classes Moyennes” in 1949, which suggests the social class as the main target, but it was actually a profit-oriented scheme, while Amelinckx acted in the core of the city in the redevelopment of apartment units. Projects by Amelinckx and Collin in Antwerp agglomeration Source :- “Map by Lisa Stroobandt, based on a digital record of Amelinckx building Meanwhile, the tract developer applications from theAntwerp City Archives” &”Götzfried, G. (1980)”, De fruithoflaan, een firm called Entreprises Anversoises monument, Antwerpen: Walter Soethoudt' on Broes, Tom, and Michiel Dehaene. 2015.

“Unbounded Urbanization and the Horizontal Metropolis : the Pragmatic Program of (Extensa n.v. founded 1910) August Mennes in the Antwerp Agglomeration.” In The Horizontal Metropolis: A Radical continued selling development Project, ed. Martina Barcelloni and Chiara Cavalieri, 483–495. parcels for the real estate developers30. Moreover, the firm also financed the construction of the roads on the metropolitan grid, planned by August Mennes, to increase the land value of their estate, using the public private deal they made between several municipalities 31. The combined action of all these agencies facilitated land consumption in the fringe of Antwerp including the vicinity of the Berm, and the triumph of the real estate tycoons through land speculation.

The best example for their impact is the chain of apartment buildings defining the street called ‘Ringlaan’ (which runs somehow parallel to the Berm to the north). The wide street is now shadowed on both sides 6

by the wide apartment slabs of developers. Moreover, the real estate developers had an active role in adopting planning documents prepared before, as it suited them. Through their direct involvement in the planning decisions which were part of August Mennes’ plan, “these property tycoons were de facto planning this entire area along the way”(Broes and Dehaene,2016 pg-15)32. Their profit-oriented development scheme reached its limits and threatened to crash in the 1970s. However, the presence of real-estate agents and developers as very powerful actors was evident in the decades after the war.

However, as elsewhere in Flanders, Belgium, and Europe, this case saw the rise of the environmentalist movement, confronting the logic of land consumption and the frenzy of building in 1974. This year marks the last interaction moment of the macro scale shift in the logic of land consumption. It marks the end of pure development and capital led urban transformation, as it was challenged by bottom-up resistance. The immediate reason for the strong resistance was the 1973 proposal to expand the Krijgsbaan and Vredebaan as a 2x2 expressway33, consuming the Berm. The plan was followed by the removing of the railway on the Berm and demolishing of the bridges over road crossings. These actions immediately faced a very strong protest followed by years of activism to preserve the Berm as a natural piece. Ironically, the Berm, originally constructed as a manmade topography and an imposed infrastructure in 1922, now urged the local community to define its needs, produced environmental awareness and triggered the agency of the environmental movement.

This happening, introduced Paul Van Dyck from the Belgium Youth Federation for Nature Protection as a new actor, who became prominent in the years that followed on issues regarding the Berm through stewardship and conservation actions, not to mention the mobilization of powerful resistance towards threats of losing the Berm.

The next section will elaborate on the process of land consumption in the decades that followed, with a micro timeline and parallel actor-institutional dynamics that led to the present condition.

3.

Shades of resistance and counter reaction

In the recent evolution, the area of Mortsel, Edegem and Wilrijk continued to be targeted by supra-locally imposed infrastructure. Not only is the Antwerp Airport still kept up and running despite emergent discussions about its closing starting already in the 1960s, but similarly the relatively new issue of the R11bis trajectory does not seem to have fully disappeared. However, in comparison to past times when heavy infrastructure was inflicted on the territory, in the last decades the external decisions for new infrastructure construction in the area seem to meet growing discontent and resistance from the local civil society. Especially related to the Berm, the community’s response to threats took a variety of forms, with civil organizations looking for external coalitions when they felt they were too frail to resist to supralocal impositions. From protesting to deliberately claiming the space through creative activities (see below Gebermte), the opposition of civil society has been shifting patterns in the last decades. To understand the evolution of the civil resistance and to foresee in which direction it might grow, a more accurate investigation of the dynamics of the area’s urban development in the last sixty years is necessary.

Increased attention has been paid to key actors whose instrumental acts altered the course of events and consequently contributed to keeping de berm in the current state and location.

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The story of R11bis starts with the ambitious motorway program that the Belgian Government initiated in the 1930s. While by the 1950s, the Belgian Government managed to build only two motorways (Brussels-Oostende and Koning Boudewijn autosnelweg for the access to the Port of Antwerp), the 1960s became the heyday of motorway construction, with ‘100 kilometres of highway per year!’ slogan of Minister Jos de Saeger leading the enthusiastic project. However, by the 1970s the motorway program started to downsize due to various factors, including the financial crisis and heavy contestations, eventually being almost completely shut down by the 1990s.34 The motorway program gave Antwerp not only the first ring road (built in 1969), but a second ring road was also planned as a consequence of the saturation of the first one in just a few years after the construction.35 A few attempts have been made to adjust the trajectory of the second ring road, the third one being eventually adopted and introduced in the Gewestplan (subregional land use plan) of Antwerp as a reservation trajectory which is still partially present in the current Gewestplan. However, the second ring road has never been constructed, because of various reasons, including protests of the locals and credit restrictions of different ministers.36 By 1973, when the third alternative for the R2 was planned, the motorway program already started to be downsized as a consequence of funds cutting, financial crisis and heavy contestations. The Ministry of Public Works started to pay more attention to the modernization of regular roads and, since restrictive measures started to be taken to curb inflation, some public works were delayed. However, the government did not give up the construction of previously planned highways. Instead, a lot of trajectories were modified and many of them were reduced to expressways.37 As a consequence, one can presume that the enlargement of Krijgsbaan was also planned under the same principle. The first interaction moment of the micro-timeline of the last decades becomes therefore 1974 when, in preparation for the road enlargement works, the last train rode on the Berm, followed two years later by the demolition of the bridges.38 The most western part of the Berm was bulldozed and the road was enlarged in order to realize the connection with the new A1 highway going to Brussels. As there was a rumour that the Berm would be completely demolished in order to enlarge Krijgsbaan, the civil society started to organize a resistance action, led by the local and national level Belgian Youth Federation for Nature Protection.39 About 1500 people participated in a protest in 1976, which resulted in the successful blockage of the upcoming works. It was the first time when the Berm was saved by a civil resistance movement.

Not only was an ecological awareness starting to take shape among civil society in the 1970s, but the ecological movement also made its way up to the government, where for the first time an Ecological Commission was set up in 1977 by Minister Louis Olivier to investigate the impact of planned infrastructure works on the environment and to find ways to minimize it.40 On the local level, as 1970 was the International Year of Nature Protection, green committees were organized in every municipality and members of civil society started to bring up the importance of nature green areas in urban environments.

In Mortsel, Paul Van Dyck was one of the first that pushed forward not only the idea to claim the Berm as a pedestrian and bike connection between the airport and Wilrijk, but also the possibility that the former railway junction (now Klein Zwitserland) could gain importance as one of the natural green areas of the municipality. In 1970 he realised an inventory of the species already present in the area, together with the Belgian Youth Federation for Nature Protection.41 Eventually, the railway junction was bought from NMBS by Mortsel municipality in 1984 and became Klein Zwitserland in 1990, managed by a local 8

organisation - Werkgroep Ecologie Mortsel - under the umbrella of a national one - Natuurreservaten.42 Therefore, the second interaction moment from 1990 represents the product of two decades of environmental movement, when they managed to establish the nature reserve on the local level.

At the national level, although the Belgian economy started to recover from the crisis in 1985, the ‘forward-looking’ road policy of the previous governments was soon bypassed by the exponential increase in traffic (111% between 1975 and 199043), due to post-Fordist economic restructuring. Together with the fact that the pace of motorway construction was considerably scaled down, this led to the first structural traffic jams after 1986, which are still one of the major setbacks in Belgium today. Moreover, the outcome of the fourth state reform which resulted in 1980 in the regionalization of the country was that the management and construction of roads, motorways and waterways became competences of the three regions44, making decision-making regarding traffic much more complex.

Comprehensive design for the entire Berm in 2002, Paul Van Dyck together with Griet Lambert , Source :- Paul Van Dyck, Personal archive

The interaction moment of 2002 brings forward a new actor. Natuurpunt, an independent volunteer association for the protection of vulnerable and threatened nature in Flanders45, was born in 2002 as a result of a merger between Natuurreservaten and De Wielewaal vzw46. Moreover, the elections from 2000 resulted in a green coalition in the Municipality of Mortsel, with Paul Van Dyck becoming alderman in the city council. Under these circumstances favouring environmental issues, he carried out for the first time a comprehensive design for the entire Berm in 2002(see above), together with Griet Lambert and Natuurpunt, as participant to a competition for attracting subsidies offered by the government to realise nature connections in cities. The project was successful and was supposed to receive 125000 euros for the implementation, including the realisation of bridge connections between the now separated sections, as well as several connections to the adjacent neighbourhoods. The money never arrived to Mortsel, as the Flemish Government suddenly decided in 2005 to use the funds for other purposes.47 Although the project was complemented in 2005 by plans by the municipality to make Vredebaan and Krijgsbaan bike and pedestrian friendly, the works stopped after the elections of 2006 that marked the end of the green coalition in Mortsel. However, the Berm was included in the 2006 Structuurplan of Mortsel as one of the 9

two biologically viable areas in Mortsel (along with the fort) and emphasized as a natural continuation of the open space network from the south-east of Antwerp.

It did not take long however, until the area was again targeted by heavy infrastructure from a supra-local level. The interaction moment of 2010-2011 represents the elaboration of Masterplan Mobility 2020 by the Flemish Government with the aim to untangle the traffic node in the Antwerp region by reducing congestion and diverting traffic48. One of the intentions was to resume the construction of the second ring of Antwerp (R2), the trajectory of which was changed to describe a relatively semi-circular movement around the city in the eastern part, with a significant portion coinciding with the Berm (see below). R11bis and A102 became one of the strategic projects of Masterplan 2020, together with the new Oosterweel connection in the north. The ambitious infrastructural project would have implied the complete digging of the Berm in order to build a buried tunnelled motorway, followed by the improbable re-construction of the embankment.49 The plan sparked outrage in the community. A group of residents of de berm became de Bermtijgers (The Berm Tigers) and set their ambition to inform the local population of supra-local decision-making from different meetings with the Province and other state agencies. However, as the Government was not backing up their protest against R11bis, the Berm Tigers funded R11MIS, a legal organisation which would be used as a legal instrument in a possible fight in case R11bis Source- Google Earth, accessed March 15,2019. project would really be implemented. With this organisation, Natuurpunt and other civil society organisations, they organized the ‘Red de Berm’ protest in 2011 against the Government’s plans for R11bis.

Nevertheless, the R11bis plan carried on. In August 2013 the Flemish Government started a Plan-MER Milieueffectenrapport (environmental impact assessment, henceforth MER), an extensive study about the mobility, environmental and spatial impacts of the R11bis and A102 project. The investigation looks to tackle several alternatives for the trajectory of R11bis, revolving around the central question if any of them are suitable to relieve the structural congestion of the ring road of Antwerp. After an initial phase of elaborating guidelines for the environmental research, the project entered a funnelling phase during which each alternative trajectory was thoroughly reviewed. In addition, a comprehensive traffic study was conducted, the preliminary conclusion of which was that the R11bis and A102 projects would not offer the desired relief for the congestion on the ring, nor would the Ringland concept.50 10

Seeing that their reaction was not taken seriously, the Berm Tigers reached out to the professional Ringland activist groups, Ademloos and stRaten-generaal, with the intention to gain legitimacy. Although these activists were initially in favour of the R11bis project, because of the supposed congestion relief they would offer for the city, they changed their mind following discussions with the Berm Tigers.51 With ‘legitimate’ support from their side, as well as from Dr. Dirk Avonts who also brought up the air quality issue in the Ringland project, Natuurpunt and the Berm Tigers organized a bigger protest in 2014. It was the first time the Ringland flag was raised on the Berm, outside of Antwerp52. The protest was relatively successful, considering the fact that officially the plans for the project were suspended, at least temporarily.

However, there are clues that the Government has not completely given up the R11bis project. The construction of the R11 tunnel under the runway of the airport was completed in 2015 as a result of new international air traffic regulations that stated that a longer safety zone for the runway was needed, without any obstacles. It seems that the tunnel is much larger and taller that needed, raising questions about the utility of such an ambitious work and the possible hidden agenda of the Flemish Government regarding the provision of enough space for future works.

With the plans for the R11bis (cut-and-cover) tunnel temporarily suspended, in the last few years civil society organisations started to look at the Berm in a different way. Gebermte members, among which many have backyards adjacent to the Berm, are trying to change the perception of the place in the imagination of the locals, using art as a tool to involve the people with the space they inhabit. In their vision, the art festival can contribute to the creation of a vision allowing possible conflict to take place, but leading to cooperation among different actors. 53 The counter-reaction is reinforced by the presence of Streekvereniging and their project Zuidrand, a collaboration among seven municipalities in the south of Antwerp, working on aspects of culture, nature, heritage, agriculture, landscape and tourism, with the aim of strengthening the regional identity.54 De berm is also a strategic project in Nature Smart Cities, a European territorial cooperation programme with the overall objective to develop an innovative, knowledge and research based, sustainable and inclusive 2 Seas area (Interreg 2 Seas 20142020 Programme covering England, France, The Netherlands and Belgium), where natural resources are protected and the green economy is promoted.55 Since Streekvereniging is an organization of the Province of Antwerp, it seems that the Province is looking to claim its role in the political and governance framework as a main steward of cultural and natural resources, in the context of its importance being downplayed by the lead Flemish political parties since public management inspired governance reforms in 2003.

The presence of the Berm seems to be quite intense not only in the collective imagination of the people, but also in the political discourse. The local press has been speculating on several proposals of political actors in what concerns the underlying potential of the Berm, such as theidea to transform the Berm into a fietsostrade (bicycle highway)56, an idea that seems not be pursued further by the Province due to the fact that the trajectory and topography of the Berm are not suitable for a fietsostrade57. Another idea launced by local political party Open VLD suggested that de berm could become Park Spoor Zuid, after the more famous park Park Spoor Noord in the north of Antwerp City58. Meanwhile, the architects of the municipality of Mortsel currently make it very clear that de berm should stay as it is currently. 59 11

4.

‘Trage weg maken’: Re-commoning the berm as a slow path

After disentangling the mechanisms of land consumption, which led to the current state of the Berm as a leftover of extractive activities conducted by outsiders in the area, one can start to understand that the site has always played the role of the backyard of the city of Antwerp, too marginal to be worth protecting but too close not to be monetized. The system of ‘commons’ – forest, agricultural land and nobility domains connected by local neighbourhood roads - started to disintegrate when simultaneous processes of land speculation and supra-locally imposed hard infrastructure began to undermine it from different directions. The commons have not only been privatised and gradually encroached by urbanisation, but the landscape that hosts them has also been gradually and consistently splintered and bulldozed in order to accommodate higher interests, most often at the expense of the locals’ health and wellbeing. The appropriation of the land for recreational purposes by the urban bourgeoisie of Antwerp was followed by the extensive construction of military infrastructure in the form of forts and the railway, which further disrupted the network of local neighbourhood roads. This continued with the growth of the railway network in the form of embankments and industrialization, the impacts of which in terms of soil and underground water pollution were devastating. Consequently, the local livelihoods were disrupted and the natural areas disappeared almost completely.

However, in the last decades and especially in the last few years, the supra-local imposition tendencies were met with increasing opposition from the level of civil society. The Berm became the frontline where tensions between powerful and powerless actors are unfolding, supported by a set of determining factors, among which the scale and proximity to residential areas play an important role. One can presume that the berm, as three kilometres of uncertain landform, has the potential to have a major impact on the local-supra local conflict, backed up by its impressive volume and presence in the area. On the one hand, for a significant share of the local population it has benefits blocking traffic noise and nuisance from Krijgsbaan, while the children can be left to play safely in green area. On the other hand, the fact that it runs along three municipalities gives the opportunity to be pushed forward as a crucial inter-municipal connection in the rebuilding of the slow paths network and the collaboration between municipalities.

Moreover, the potential of reclaiming the land of the Berm is reinforced by its key but variegated position in both the agenda of local actors and of supra-local ones. For some of the local actors, the Berm is one of the only two natural areas in one of the most densely populated municipalities in Belgium60, while in the view of the Government its physical position seems to be crucial in solving the structural traffic jams in the Antwerp region. Reclaiming the Berm locally therefore entails a laborious work of adding bricks to a solid foundation, which ensures that it can withhold whatever supra-local interests might arise in the future.

Already certain aspects are pointing out the start of an effervescent search for a soft infrastructure, capable of counteracting hard infrastructure like R11bis. The reflection of the disappeared system of commons consisting of forest patches, agricultural lands and connecting neighbourhood roads is currently taking shape as the counter mechanism of an emerging social interaction space, led by local actors (Gebermte, municipalities and Natuurpunt), and ecosystem services, led by supralocal actors (Streekvereniging, Province and Trage Wegen).

What seems to be missing is the dialogue between the actors that are interested in reclaiming the Berm, as well as a coherent discourse that might be used not only to bring them together but also to empower 12

them. Currently, the claim-positively discourse of Gebermte stands in a partial opposition with the nature conservationists’ discourse such as Natuurpunt, who see the Berm more as a naturalized area which needs more protection and implication from the municipality. Simultaneously, the discourse of the activist group Berm Tigers plays on the defense against current supra-local impositions, namely R11bis. There is a need to open up a dialogue which might lead to connecting and empowering each other’s discourses.

Finally, the potential of the local economy should not be ignored in contouring the collaboration strategy between the actors. Significant evidence comes out of the research showing that the local economic tissue is relatively lively and effervescent, involving creative production activities supported by a strong sense of self-sufficiency and entrepreneurial spirit in the community.

In framing what must be done to ensure shared land use rights over time, building a local level socioinstitutional setup is critical. Because, as the study suggests, the locality has been socio-ecologically victimized for the successive impositions by diverse predominantly external agencies which could continue to impose in the future, unless the local level agencies and actors are empowered in their responsive action against land consumption. This position is taken, learning from the actor-institutional dynamics of responsive measures by the community, which were able to withhold the enduring threats on the Berm but not able (yet) to foster and institutionalize the Berm as an important urban figure to prevail.

In doing so, a clear policy layout is needed to address the issues of the Berm with a coherent discourse, collectively embraced by the relevant social groups. The difference in agendas of actors shall be consolidated into a stronger coordinated vision. The shared agenda of ‘commoning’ can be traced in the insurgent movements of the community mobilized in defending the Berm, however only part of this social groups have a proactive agenda towards the permanent institutionalization of the Berm. The pro- active actors working towards positively claiming the Berm shall play the instrumental role in empowering the community towards re-commoning.

A local artistic event Gebermte addressing this challenge, was organized in 2017 and 2018 by a local nonprofit group Gebermte. In 2017 it was supported by the the activist group R11MIS, together with the nature conservation organization Natuurpunt and the municipality of Mortsel, followed by the Antwerp district of Wilrijk in 2018. The 2019 edition brings the support of the Province of Antwerp, the intermunicipal organization Streekvereniging Zuidrand, the municipality of Edegem and the non-profit organization vzw Trage Wegen, in addition to the previous partners.

Gebermte was designed as a participative artistic experiment that aims to involve residents and visitors of Mortsel, Wilrijk, Edegem and around, as well as supra-local actors, in the rehabilitation of the old 13

railway embankment in Mortsel and Wilrijk. The initiative seeks to enable new ways of experiencing and using de berm and create a flexible, open and spontaneous parkspace.

As a starting-point for further reflection on the previous general ideas, seven fields of action were extracted from the actor-institutional dynamics of the area and briefly elaborated below. They need to be collectively evaluated and contextually assessed to trigger new ideas on the future of de berm.

Soft mobility: Slow but fair paths Titled ‘Trage weg maken’ (making slow path), Gebermte 2019 draws attention to the potential of de berm as a connection for non-motorized transport. Slow paths, once referred to as Buurtwegen (local neighborhood roads) among other names, had ensured the equity of access for local users in the past.

They operated as a shared network maintaining connectivity between small villages, agricultural land, common land, forest land, and nobility castles. Through history, slow paths have been overridden by a succession of imposed infrastructure and the slow encroachment of dense urbanization. The ‘right of way’ by the community has been compromised by the dynamic shift of land-use regimes. An NGO has been initiated 15 years ago to work towards bringing back the consumed common ‘right of passage’ through the footprint of the old slow paths, in order to re-establish the slow paths network. This action is a complex act of negotiation between private landowners, municipalities, Province, and Natuurpunt. Moreover, the Province of Antwerp is working towards developing a bike accessibility network. The confluence of these two networks come together in the vicinity of the Berm. The possible role of the Berm with regarding the soft mobility of the area is significant in re-establishing missing links and the re-commoning process.

Ecology: Spine of biodiversity The beginning of nature colonization of the former railway embankment in the 1970s coincides with the birth of the ecological movement in Flanders. Since then, several actors have tried to draw attention to the ecological value of the Berm, the most significant event being the establishment of Klein Zwitserland as a nature reserve in 1990. However, there is controversy in what concerns the management of the Berm as a naturalized area. While for Natuurpunt, extending the natural reserve area on the Berm would relieve the pressure of too many people using Klein Zwitserland for its unique qualities - for recreation and educational purposes, for most of the locals and civil society organizations the Berm is the only accessible piece of open land in the area. This means that the human presence does not allow for a rich biodiversity to develop. Moreover, its maintenance by the municipality’s green spaces service is being questioned, in the sense that there is a lack of a coherent maintenance plan which would allow for a richer biodiversity.

Is there a way where the actors collaborate in order to enable the biodiversity of the Berm to flourish while still responding to the acute need for accessible open space?

Heritage: Tale to be lived The Southside of Antwerp is an area with a rich history, where the past is interwoven in the daily life. The Berm lies among former military and industrial sites, being itself a living memory of the beginning-20th century railways construction frenzy. On a walk through the neighborhood, one can discover not only relics from the recent world wars, such as bunkers and plane guiding devices, but also castles and holiday mansions belonging to the elite of the time, well hidden in the urban tissue. This abundance of material heritage translates into a sense of pride built into the collective imagination of the locals, which can be a lever to stimulate the local economy based also on immaterial heritage. The Berm gets an important role 14

in connecting heritage stories, physically as well as mentally, linking to the concept of Zuidrand of interwoven culture, heritage, agriculture, landscape and tourism.

Creativity: Made on the Berm Recent trends show that creativity is gaining momentum in the economic landscape of the Berm’s vicinity.

Massive productive Industrial sites are dissolving into smaller but locally rooted practices of recycling, printing, movie props, nature reserves etc. Initiatives of adopting agricultural production as small-scale urban allotment gardens and adaptive reuse of old edifices as co-working area are evidence of the growing potential of the urban agglomeration’s economy. Historically, the vicinity of the Berm had been a patchwork of self-sufficient villages. The entrepreneurial culture was manifested in the custom of local breweries, crafts and locally grown industries like Gevaert. The very recent motivation of municipalities collaborating to promote local economy backed by the recreation potential is a testament for the need to cultivate creativity as one of the local assets. Moreover, Gebermte at present day has managed to induce re-commoning practices of the Berm by temporary claiming space for creative activities and events. The Berm had played a role in the past as a conduit of the economy where intense economic activities plugged in and developed. Similarly, it is showing potential as a modem of tapping micro creativity towards economic self-sufficiency.

Immaterial: Social encounter The Berm as an open space threatened by the construction of R11bis played an important role in what concerns the creation of social relationships in the community. From the first protest against the enlargement of Krijgsbaan in 1979 to the two protests of 2011 and 2014 organized by the Berm Tigers and Natuurpunt, and further to the Gebermte festival in the last years, it seems that the Berm has always been playing a role in gathering the community under the umbrella of resistance. Reinforcing the participation of the local community in the planning process opens up possibilities of creating the best possible conditions for debates around the future of an inclusive urban space.

Governance: Our Berm The Berm is the property of the traffic department AWV of the Flemish government and the municipality of Mortsel, while it is administered by the municipality of Mortsel and the Antwerp district of Wilijk. It is open for everyone but with specific rules. De facto, the Berm is also managed by Natuurpunt and Gebermte and members of the community who accept stewardship, although the rules are poorly enforced. On the other hand, local social groups are manifesting the need for an inclusive collective agreement on the governance and use of the Berm, whereas Gebermte is practicing commoning activities through the temporal claiming of the Berm for shared activities. The ongoing tension between the nature conservationists’ perspective over the Berm and the pro-active actors claiming back the Berm through activities, is escalating in the void of power relations regarding ownership and management regime. A converging action in governance is necessary to consolidate the gap, on the way towards a collective agreement for long term shared use.

Health: Move healthier A great emphasis has been put on the physical and mental health of city dwellers in the last decades. In a congested area like the municipality of Mortsel and the district of Wilrijk, through which thousands of cars pass every day towards the harbour and back, it is extremely difficult to be able to go for a run or even 15

for a walk without inhaling great amounts of small black carbon particles from exhaust pipes, not to mention the constant noise of the engines to which the airport adds a significant amount. Moreover, studies have shown that mental health and work productivity are closely related to the proximity to biodiverse natural areas.61 Therefore, the role of the Berm becomes extremely important as part of the network of slow paths and open space which allows locals to move in a cleaner environment close to their home.

“Mortsel is dichtst bevolkte gemeente,” hln.be, accessed April 30, 2019, https://www.hln.be/regio/wijnegem/mortsel-is-dichtstbevolkte-gemeente~acc89e05/.

2 Annette Kuhk, Dirk Holemans, and Pieter Van den Broeck, Op Grond van Samenwerking. Woningen, Voedsel En Trage Wegen Als Heruitgevonden Commons, 2018.

3 Kuhk, Holemans, and Van den Broeck, 2018.

4 Tom Broes and Michiel Dehaene, ‘Unbounded Urbanization and the Horizontal Metropolis: The Pragmatic Program of August Mennes in the Antwerp Agglomeration.’, 2019, 13.

5 ‘ATFORT - Atelier European Fortresses’, accessed 30 April 2019, http://www.atfort.eu/?id1=selfanalysisreports.

6 Pessers M, ‘Publicaties’, Mortselse Heemkundige Kring (blog), 5 March 2018, https://mortselseheemkundigekring.com/publicaties-2/.

7 Broes and Dehaene,2019.

8 “Trains and Trams in Belgium: History a‘Trains and Trams in Belgium: History and Future | Radoveden’, accessed 15 February 2019, http://radoveden.be/content/trains-and-trams-belgium-history-and-future.nd Future | Radoveden.”.

9 Raphque, ‘History’, Agfa Corporate (blog), accessed 1 March 2019, https://www.agfa.com/corporate/about-us/history/.

10 Broes and Dehaene,2019.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid 15 Ibid.

16 ‘Kom Eens Langs in FORT 4’, accessed 1 May 2019, www.mortsel.be//Leven_en_samenleven/Beleven_en_vrije_tijd/Beleef_en_herbeleef/FORT_4/Kom_eens_langs_in_FORT_4.

17 Broes and Dehaene,2019.

19 Ibid.

20 ‘ODIS’. n.d. Accessed 30 April 2019. https://www.odis.be/hercules/toonPers.php?taalcode=nl&id=8857 1

21 22

Tim Lemoine, ‘History’, MinervaCars.com, accessed 18 April 2019, https://www.minervacars.com/en/history/index/.

‘Brouweryen | Brouweryen’. n.d. Accessed 30 April 2019. http://www.brouweryen.be/brouweryen/.

“5th April 19‘5th April 1943: Belgium Tragedy in Mortsel as USAAF Daylight Bombing Raid Hits’, accessed 28 March 2019, http://ww2today.com/5th-april-1943-belgium-tragedy-in-usaaf-daylight-bombing-raid.43: Belgium Tragedy in Mortsel as USAAF Daylight Bombing Raid Hits.”

24 Broes, Tom, and Michiel Dehaene. ‘Real Estate Pioneers on the Metropolitan Frontier. The Works of Jean-Florian Collin and François Amelinckx in Antwerp’. Cidades. Comunidades e Territórios, no. 33 (31 December 2016). http://journals.openedition.org/cidades/292.

25 Broes and Dehaene, 2016.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

23

29

Ibid.

Ibid.

31 Ibid.

32 Ibid.

33 Paul Van Dyck, March 2019.

34 “Wegen-Routes.Be,” accessed April 15, 2019, http://wegen-routes.be/homen.html.

30

35

Ibid.

Ibid.

37 Ibid.

36

16

38

Paul Van Dyck, March 2019.

Ibid.

40 “Wegen-Routes.Be.” 41 Van Dyck, interview.

42 Griet Lambert, March 2019.

43 “Wegen-Routes.Be.” 44 Ibid.

45 “Over Natuurpunt,” Natuurpunt, accessed April 30, 2019, https://www.natuurpunt.be/pagina/over-natuurpunt.

46 Non-profit Flemish ornithological and bird protection association. “De geschiedenis van Natuurpunt,” Natuurpunt, accessed April 16, 2019, https://www.natuurpunt.be/pagina/de-geschiedenis-van-natuurpunt.

47 “Waarover Gaat Het? - Land Van Reyen,” accessed April 17, 2019, https://www.landvanreyen.be/r11bis/r11bis-problematiek.

48 “Masterplan 2020,” oosterweelverbinding.be, accessed April 17, 2019, https://www.oosterweelverbinding.be/algemeen/masterplan-2020.

49 “Waarover Gaat Het? - Land Van Reyen.”

50 “Masterplan 2020.”

51 The Berm Tigers, March 2019.

52 Ibid.

53 Bart Pluym, March 8, 2019.

54 “About Us | The Zuidrand Regional Association,” accessed April 21, 2019, https://www.dezuidrand.be/over-ons.

55 “Nature Smart Cities across the 2 Seas | 2 Mers Seas Zeeën,” accessed April 22, 2019, https://www.interreg2seas.eu/en/nsciti2s.

56 “Stad Blijft Dromen van Fietsostrade,” hln.be, accessed April 30, 2019, https://www.hln.be/regio/mortsel/stad-blijft-dromenvan-fietsostrade~ad5c1763/.

57 Sara Van Elsacker, February 28, 2019.

58 “Open Vld Wil Park Spoor Zuid (Wilrijk) - Gazet van Antwerpen,” accessed April 30, 2019, https://www.gva.be/cnt/dmf20180824_03681539/open-vld-wil-park-spoor-zuid.

59 Bart Bomans and Joachim Walgrave, April 2019.

60 “Mortsel is dichtst bevolkte gemeente.”

61 Wim Jacobs, March 2019.

39

17

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19