Recovering dynamic landscapes along the Belgian coast

RECOVERING DYNAMIC LANDSCAPES ALONG THE BELGIAN COAST

VICTOR MANUEL ALIAGA

Studio Belgian Coast Spring 2014 Design Thesis Mahs KULeuven

By Victor Manuel Aliaga Promotors: Wim Wambecq/Erik Van Daele

STUDIO TEAM: Bruno De Meulder Wim Wambecq Erik Van Daele

CONTENTS [Part 1] Design project - white paper [Part 2] Written thesis - transparent paper

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The need of a vision From dynamic to fixed and back The mechanisms and cycles to be recovered the/ challenges to face Developing strategic guidelines: section Oostende - Zeebrugge Recovering and (time)framing ecosystems: section De Haan–Wenduin Aquaculture as a trigger for new sustainable development: Wenduin

[1] [3] [6] [11] [15] [25]

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0. The need of a vision.The land use plan for Belgium was drawn up in the year 1996 together with engineered based infrastructures that have been implemented since the VIII century along the Belgian coast, both of them constitute, as part of the technocratic believe that natural forces can be domesticated, the decline of a practice that results “incapable of engaging the contemporary built environment”(1) moreover not responding to many other global - local issues such as: afforestation, urban sprawl, climate change, coastal protection, environmental decay, pollution, etc.

The increasing weakening of an agricultural economy on one hand and the repetition of a linear urban development and its land-consuming typologies on the other (2 600 hectares of open space were built up in the last decade in Flanders) [European Environment Agency, 2001], make the Belgian polders and the coastal landscape, a territory in which the pressure for land becomes the cornerstone for planning. Under this setting of conditions, the design based research focused in reimagining a coastal landscape in which new insights, translated into concrete projects, are proposed and tested to explore new opportunities to create an alternative future for the Belgian coast and its region.

“The design of cities and territories has always been a vehicle for images whose permanence is very often far greater than the project itself” (2).

The division of disciplines and the disconnected policies applied by Institutions assume each of the problems in an isolated way and only contribute to the lack of an integrated vision for the territory of the Belgian sea front and polders. On the contrary, the challenges that this territory needs to face in the coming 100 years should be read as a whole. The proposal more than focusing on solving a specific problem practically, aims to create and explore scenarios where the different conditions of the coast can be tested. Within a collection of different knowledge and information and an interdisciplinary framework the proposal responds strategically to a territory in an urgent need for a vision.

1. Height Christopher , Portraying the Urban Landscape: Landscape in Architectural Criticism and Theory,1960-Present pag. 22 in Landscape Urbanism: A Manual for the Machinic Landscape, 2003.

2. Vigano Paola, Antwerp territory of a new modernity, pag. 25, 2009.

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The regional zoning map 1996 for the coastline of Belgium shows a modernistic vision that divides the region into 7 zones, still in effect.

Source: Land-use map taken from Y. Cabooter, L. Dewilde , M. Langie , An inventory for locations suitable for wind energy in Flanders region , VUB, 1998.

The vision of the Belgian coast in 1934 after the implementation of the railway network show s the Belgian Coast as a fashionable accessible beach. The famous coastal wall typology was also part of an image that reflects an economical growth moment.

Source: Eric Michaels, Giclee Posters ,1934

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1. From dynamic to fixed and back .-

“Het Masterplan Kustveiligheid voor de kust en het Sigmaplan voor het Scheldebekken formuleren maatregelen zoals dijkverhogingen, zandsuppleties en kaaimuren om deze stijging op te vangen.� (3) Water is by definition dynamic, not only because of its different states in nature but also in its complex natural cycles, and so is the relation with cities, territories and regions; dynamic. The notion of water based cities and water urbanism [Shannon, De Meulder, Gosseyye /d`Auria 2008] contemplates indeed this dynamic condition and relies as much in a scientific-based (fact based) knowledge as well as an interpretative and critical understanding, to achieve potential guidelines for planning and design.

However water is only the most recognizable dynamic feature in a coastal environment; landscape and its ecological systems are constantly changing, even more with the implementation of hard engineering infrastructures, that unbalance natural cycles. Once a dynamic landscape the Belgian coast has witnessed the gradual disappearance of the vast dune landscape that today has become a protected area with ecological awareness. Additionally a large number of creeks have been enlarged only to work as functional waterways, where estuaries and their biological diversity have been reduced to ports and docks. The Belgian coast is the story of a rich dynamic landscape that has lost its natural essence and self-regulating property only to give rise to a fixed linear model that is struggling against nature´s dynamic condition.

The Belgian coast is nowadays, is a manmade value created progressively trough time nearly seven centuries. Within a synthetized historical frame for our eventual purposes, the Belgian coast has had three important periods: a dynamic era; starting in the prehistoric times until the late middle Ages (1300), a transitory stage; between 1300-1700 and a fixed era; 1700 until now. The Belgian seafront was, and needs again to become a dynamic landscape, the territory forgot that is a complex coastal system that can not be defined by a linear radical scheme, moreover returning to dynamism constitutes an opportunity to improve the spatial quality of the environment and its natural functions.

3. BUUR/ Bureau voor Urbanisme, Metropolitaan Kustlandschap 2100 Verkennende en methodologische analyse van de Belgische Kust, pag. 83, 2013.

?- 1300

?

before poldering

?

dike construction

1300- 1700

water network

river canalization waterways and drainage building

2014- 2100

current water system

proposed recovered system

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In an extended view of the northern coast it is possible to distinguish how the seafront responds to a figure that is not linear at all. The complex system of higher and lower areas is what finally defines the movement of freshwater and saltwater. Before the construction of the dikes, the maritime current had a dynamic cycle by entering large portions of land and getting out of it, making a coastline hard to draw, and yet creating a valuable landscape.

This dynamism allowed saltwater and fresh water to mix in estuaries and mounds creating a unique scenario for biodiversity. The sediment gathered on the shore helped to build the sand dunes, which absorbed most of the wind energy, protecting the hinterland naturally, and acting as an underground reservoir of the quaternary age [Vandenbohede, Luyten /Lebbe, 2008] . There was enough space for these cycles to happen, and they formed part of an integrated ecosystem. With the construction of the dikes, the inland landscape became increasingly fragile, and the components of a coastal ecosystem started to fall apart.

Later on with the consolidation of the linear dike and the urban development the freshwater system suffered a verticalization process, meaning that the rivers were canalized or were transformed into waterways.

Up till these days the isolated fragments of what, a dynamic landscape used to be, remain disconnected, freshwater and salt water systems do not have the space to get together anymore, estuaries are lost, the polders became economically and ecologically fragile, the ocean is a force that needs to be resisted, the underground water reservoirs are drying out because of the urban population consumption, and contradictorily, the water in polders needs to be pumped out regularly while the risk of flooding increases with climate change, not only because of the sea level rising and heavier rains, but also due to larger discharges on rivers, canals and drainages product of canalization and urbanization and the inherent sealing of the soil [Nolf 2013].

ÂŤCoastal plains are in the frontline of climate change. Predicted increase in recharge and sea level rise will alter groundwater flow, water quality distribution, recharge and discharge considerably. (4) Is in this context where recovering a dynamic landscape, becomes the framework, to imagine a project that allow to explore economy, ecology and local actors interplaying for sustainable alternatives.

4. Vandenbohede Alexander, Luyten Kimber, Lebbe Luc. Effects of global change on heterogeneous coastal aquifers: a case study in Belgium. pag.83 in Journal of Coastal Research , 2008.

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Source: Masterplan Kustveiligheid 2007

2.- The mechanisms and cycles to be recovered /the challenges to face.It is believed that by the end of the century the air temperature could rise up to 4º C [Metropolitaan Kustlandschap 2100] this change in the climate, will defenitely rise the level of the sea. It results quite difficult to know exactly how much the sea level will rise in the next decades since the figures are not steady and do not follow a pattern, however it is possible to set a scenario in order to be aware in advance. “Het worst case klimaatscenario dat wordt voorgesteld is

gebaseerd op het (onwaarschijnlijke) worst case scenario (WCS), dat gebruikt is in het CLIMAR project (Van Den Eynde et al., 2011)3 met een stijging van het gemiddelde zeeniveau met 200 cm en een toename in het stormvloedpeil van 240 cm in 2100. “ (5) Under this situation, most of the low-lying areas of the Belgian coast will be flooded, affecting approximately 8 km of the polder stripe. In the current master plan for coastal security [Masterplan Kustveiligheid, 2007] it is stated that both hard (dikes) and soft (dunes) barriers are contemplated: “Er werd een

onderscheid gemaakt tussen drie typeomgevingen: „Badplaatsen‟: dit is een aandachtszone aan de Vlaamse kust die in een meer verstedelijkte omgeving gelegen is. Hier kunnen zowel zachte als harde kustbeschermingsmaatregelen uitgevoerd worden.„Duinen‟: dit is een aandachtszone aan de Vlaamse kust die in een meer natuurlijke omgeving gelegen is, gekenmerkt door de aanwezigheid van duinen. Hier kunnen zachte kustbeschermingsmaatregelen uitgevoerd worden. „Havens‟: dit is een aandachtszone aan de Vlaamse kust die in een havengebied gelegen is. Hier kunnen enkel harde kustbeschermingsmaatregelen uitgevoerd worden.”(6), nonetheless the effective measures adopted for the coast protection mainly consist in enlarging the existing infrastructures as shown in the schemes.

Another challenge besides the risk of sea flooding, is the risk of stream flooding because of the increasing volume of discharge. The canalization of rivers and creeks, and the consumption of land, due to urbanization and agriculture, that once belong to estuaries and meanders, made the rivers to remain as a foreign element in the landscape, the Yser river is an extraordinary example of this condition. The measures to tackle the stream flooding risk also respond to a rigid practice by making the canals bigger and deeper. However the a much more sensible answer relies in giving back space to water …urban regions have to

restore their retention capacity and make room for water. (7) In this sense the sea flooding as well as stream flooding are part of a dynamic landscape that remains resilient despite the efforts that have tried to control them, these mechanism are to be recognized understood only to be recovered.

5. BUUR/ Bureau voor Urbanisme, Metropolitaan Kustlandschap 2100 Verkennende en methodologische analyse van de Belgische Kust, pag. 15, 2013.

6. Masterplan Kustveiligheid voor Belgie, 2007.

7. Nolf Christian, Sections of Flanders. Challenges of upstream Water Management and the Spatial Structuring of the Nebulous City, 2013.

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The swamps drawn by Joseph Jean Francois (count de Ferraris) between 1771 and 1778, along the coast of the then Austrian Netherlands, show that by that time some of the dynamism was still present, as the swaps had an input of both freshwater and seawater. The most recognizable areas surrounded the cities of Newport, Ostende, Blankernberg e and Brugge at the sea. This ancient swamps respond to low-lying areas in the already transformed productive coastal landscape of today. These areas provide a hint of where to recreate ecological valuable swamps.

“Despite its small size, the North sea off the Belgian coast is characterised by several valuable habitats. This, in part has to do, with the presence of a complex system of sandbanks” (8) Another important mechanism to be recovered and interpreted is the sedimentation and erosion process that take place in the seafront. The formation of estuaries and swamps occurs partly when sediments gathers in the mounds of rivers flowing into the ocean, because of the enclosure of these natural networks, the estuary as an ecosystem has been lost.

However sedimentation still occurs on the coast only as tidal sediment. There are three areas where sedimentation can be observed: on both sides of Zeebrugge and on the shore from De Panne to Middelkerke. This last one has a more natural vocation since the main sea current runs southwest – northeast, while the first is a direct consequence of the extension of the harbour, the only element that breaks the linear coastal scheme and gets into the sea. This anthropomorphic intervention has surprisingly generated an ecological valuable place for biodiversity, which means that not only land reclaiming can reactivate natural mechanisms but that it is possible to find means in which ecology and economy co-exist.

Erosion on the other hand takes places in two areas of the coast; from Middelkerke to De Hann and in the area around Knokke Heist, which make the maritime infrastructure difficult to maintain. The efforts to maintain the linear beach typology are not few, since there is a system of small size dams placed along the 67km of the shore, neglecting the impact of erosion or sedimentation.

The Belgian shore and in general the Northern sea is not very deep, within the first 8km the bathymetry does not go beyond the 5m, additionally the sandbanks also product of a sedimentation process, reinforce the initial vision that the coast is not linear and make land reclamation not only feasible, but real as it is happening in the harbours. “Gravel does not move in the North sea except in

very shallow areas along the coast where waves have a strong influence. In any case gravel only moves on very small distances.” (9) In this sense the dynamic mechanism and cycles of the Belgian coast are to be recovered because the relation sea-land is not linear nor static, and new landreclamation needs to be detonated taking into account the cycles and mechanisms in which this extension of land should be inscribed.

8. Maes Frank, Schrijvers Jan, Vanhulle An, A flood of space towards a Spatial Structure Plan for Sustainable Management of the Sea, pag. 26, 2005.

9. Maes Frank, Schrijvers Jan, Vanhulle An, A flood of space towards a Spatial Structure Plan for Sustainable Management of the Sea, pag. 17, 2005.

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A Ferraris map collage of the Belgian coast, where ancient swamps and old ecosystems can be traced.

Ferrariskaart van de Vlaamse kust in 1777 source: http://www.kbr.be/collections/car t_plan/ferraris/ferraris_nl.html

The old towns at the coast in 1747; a past in which many of them had a water based city origin .

Daniel de La Feuille 1747 Nieuwe Kaart van Vlaanderen source:http://www.geographic us.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

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3 Developing strategic guidelines: section Oostende - Zeebrugge .A section of the coast is selected, the area between Oostende and Zeebrugge has been chosen to define and develop strategic guidelines that can lead, or be translated into a design. The section has been selected not because of the characteristic linear scheme of the coast, but due to the potentiality of developing diverse perpendicular structures that end up in cities and towns and can by influence define these settlements much better.

On the other hand the strategic guidelines are a result of conceptual ideas translated into a synthetized exploratory project. This exploratory research is based under the hypothesis that by considering the natural and built environment and its mechanisms to be recovered and challenges to face, a new resilient dynamic landscape can be recreated. As part of this resilient dynamic landscape that can cope with the environmental issues, afforestation plays a major role as one of the first strategic guidelines.

Afforestation is conceived not only to create a more resilient landscape that can cope also with the dynamic nature of the coast, but also it is a key element for the improvement of the living conditions of the population. Forestry has contributed greatly in the stabilization of ecosystems such as swamps and dunes; most of the conserved patches of the dune landscape is due to the natural fixation of vegetation and sand in them. Not to mention that different species of plants can revert condition of water and soil pollution in highly dense areas or post industrial places.

By having forestry as a strategy guideline and design resource, it is also possible to revert a condition in which the province of West Flanders is disadvantaged.

The Ferraris map in 1770 and a forest mapping done in 2000 (10), show how there has been a decrease of forest areas in west of Flanders as there has been an increment of forest in the east, this fact reveals that the forest as part of landscape is also dynamic.

Moreover the provinces of West Flanders, East Flanders and Flemish Brabant have suffered an important reduction of their forest areas, having the province of West Flanders as the most visible example. In 1770 the province of West Flanders used to count with at least 13.000 ha of forest, while in the year 2000 counting only with 2.000 ha, losing 11.000 ha of forest in this period of time.

East Flanders losing 6 hectares, and the province of Flemish Brabant losing 9ha.

Mean while the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg have been afforested, going from 7ha to 16 ha in the northern province and going from 8 ha to 16 ha in the eastern province. A spatial shift from the west to the east should not be the interpretation, on the contrary this means that West Flanders is lacking an ecological based project that can pull the corner of sustainable development and forestry back.

10. Taken from : Vitse Theo, Bosuitbreiding in Vlanderen, lecture presentation, 2001.

Boskartering: 2000

Ferrariskaart: 1770

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tidal dune/beach

} 2000 ha of forest tidal swamp forest Adapted from : Vitse Theo, Bosuitbreiding in Vlanderen, lecture presentation, 2001.

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Another important strategic element that help to build a resilient dynamic landscape is the creation of swamps and the extension of the dune ecosystem driven by land-reclaiming.

A swamp forest located close to the sea is able to grip party the tidal when the sea level raises and release the excess of water when the tide is low. A swamp forest located beside rivers or creeks has the capability to retain water when a heavy storm threats to overcharge canals and flood. A complementary strategy is enlarging and giving back space to river meanders. Both swamp forest (fresh water and saltwater) act as water basins increasing the capability to retain water.

One of the most valuable ecosystems in the coast is definitely the dunes, this mechanism acts as a natural defence for hinterland, provides fertile ground for dune forest, and finally contains an important groundwater reservoir, which currently serves cities on the coast and is being reduced in its capability to recharge due to an overuse of its fresh water reserves. Water extractions in

coastal areas have to deal with salt water intrusion and lowering of hydraulic heads in valuable ecosystems ( ). As explained before water intrusion is leading to get groundwater from deeper sources for urban coastal areas where expanding the dune ecosystem brings on the table another alternative for this issue than to remedy the salt water intrusion, it was found that decreasing the

extraction rate was the only solution. ( ).

This way swamp forests are designed to act as sponges for retention of sea and stream water and its dynamic condition, together with the extension of dunes, and the positive effect already explained of the enlargement of this ecosystem, driven by land reclamation, are natural mechanisms triggered by afforestation and land reclamation that aim to build up a resilient landscape capable to deal with the challenges that the Belgian coast is facing.

The transformation of a linear rigid scheme of the seafront means that the homogeneity of the coastal line had to be reinterpreted by looking at potential spatial elements that could redefine (diversify) cities and towns as a direct influence of the reinterpretations of these (perpendicular) structures. Under this criteria the section Oostende-Zeebrugge was reimagined, as the perpendicular structures and the cities in which these section is inscribed act as a strategic interventions for the new coast.

11. Vandenbohede Alexander, Van Hoette Emmanuel, Luc Lebbe, `Sustainable groundwater extraction in coastal areas: a Belgian example’, in Environment Geology, published on line, 2008.

12. Vandenbohede Alexander, Van Hoette Emmanuel, Lebbe Luc, `Sustainable groundwater extraction in coastal areas: a Belgian example’, in Environment Geology, published on line, 2008.

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The actual planning process needs to be backed up by existing fundamental scientific research, but it also requires global critical vision-defining research, in which an important role is reserved for design-based or projective research. (13) The linear scheme along the Belgian Coast is seen as the “end of the world” limit, the so called longest route of tramway and the royal avenue is rarely used to get from one city to another since the all the settlements on the coast are considered much alike. The idea of getting to the Belgian coast is reaching anywhere at the “end of the world”.

In this section, the Belgian coast presents a variety of important elements in the landscape that are valuable not only to give structure but also to define a vocation or identity for each town, thus to recreate a urban diversity that can overcome the linear coastal standarization.

Oostende presents a very interesting opening towards the sea which is the gate to be recovered of an ancient swamp behind the city; in order to recreate a natural limit with the city of Bredene.

Between Bredene and De Haan an important stripe of dune begins that needs to be extended.

As part of De Haan, the most suburban tissue in this town is completely immersed in the dune forest stripe, giving the chance to infiltrate this valuable ecosystem into the urban tissue. Mean while De Haan´s old city centre and the this suburban tissue are connected by an important road that is to be transformed in a corridor that structures the city and guides for future urban growth into the ocean as part of land-reclamation, thus it creates an opportunity to enhance a singular urban figure that surprisingly is not facing the ocean.

The dune stripe continues until Wenduine a city looking at two ecosystems: the dune forest and an estuary to be recovered. This estuary creates another natural border between Wenduine and Blankenberge a city with a dense urban tissue and where the holyday house typology is characteristic tissue that is not valuable.

The section ends with the interesting industrial corridor based on two waterways that are to be flooded an were created to connect Zeebrugge and Brugge. This is where the biggest port on the coast lies, creating on both sides ecological valuable land an creating opportunities to expand the beaches and dunes.

Additionally city belts are foreseen to create urban forest around the cities.

By looking at perpendicular elements, that can structure the new, diverse, resilient dynamic landscape and provide uniqueness to each of the cities along the coast, the strategy aims to create, within a coherent structure, six different “end of the world” plugs.

13. Geldolf Charlotte, Janssens Nel, `Managing the sea, a vision of the future. the ‘future commons 2070’ map’, Magnificent suroundings, pag 85, 2011.

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4 Recovering and (time)framing ecosystems: section De Haan–Wenduin .The second section chosen to intervene is the one between De Haan and Wenduin, because of the possibility of working on different ecosystems and urban conditions: De Haan, Wenduin (cities) dune forest, a creek (Vaart van Blankenberge), the sea and the polder.

Conceived both ecosystems as dynamic, a fresh water ecosystem and a seawater ecosystem, recover the capability of water retention of an estuary.

A fresh water ecosystem is recreated along the creek of Blankenberge, using it as a main structure in order to grow a flooding plain forest corridor, which can absorb and retain extra volume of water discharge. Additionally in this flooding plain forest, there are water basins lakes creating a sponge forest spine. The course of the river is expanded to give space back to water. This ecosystem ends in a freshwater swamp that not only retains water but also feeds the corridor with trees acting as a nursery.

On the other side a portion of land is de-poldered to recreate a sea water ecosystem: this ecosystem consists of a salt marsh swamp which returns to a dynamic cycle that relies on the tide, thus biodiversity is recovered. A new embankment is conceived by reusing construction material, a slow tide bay and beach lagoons are created thanks to land-reclaiming.

“C´est l´ ombre, c´est le frais, c´est l´oasis tranquille au milieu de la dunes sauvage” (14) Complementing these two water based ecosystems, the extension of the already existing dunes is envisaged. Between the new beaches and the existing dune forest there is the new dune forest and grassland. New beaches are created driven by land-reclaiming, not only to allow the expansion of the dune forest, but also to cope with new urbanization. In addition to expanding the dune forest and building up lagoons, the new beaches provide a new kind of shore that has changed its orientation becoming attractive for recreation. The dune forest stops being an isolated stripe.

In this new image sea swamps and freshwater swamps are been recovered as part of an estuary; a canalized creek is transformed into a flooding plain forest with meanders and a river corridor capable to retain water, a dune forest has been expanded, new beaches are created along with lagoons and new urbanization; producing an amalgam of ecosystems interplaying in a coherent on-site structure. The combination of ecosystems contemplated in this new image of this section help building up a resistant and self-regulating landscape capable of dealing with ecology issues (climate change, sea flooding, stream flooding, deforestation, water intrusion) but also improves the quality of the living conditions by creating a diverse landscape and provides a platform in which new economies such as aquaculture, are to be developed.

14. Van der Swaelmen Louis, Belgian dune afforestation, 1888.

amalgam of ecosystems sea beach lagoon grassland

aquaculture salt marsh protection embankment

sea water system

freshwater swamp flooding plain forest

new dune forest

water basin lake

existing dune forest

fresh water system

new proposed landscape

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The new proposed landscape is recreated in eight stages, each stage responds roughly to a period of time of eight to ten years. Trough this phase by phase sequence it is possible to distinguish the most remarkable actions and changes that guide the transformation of the current landscape into the new diverse, resilient dynamic landscape. The most considerable processes to be followed are land-reclaiming and the de-poldering, while afforestation, urbanization and the recovering and expansion of ecosystems remain complementary processes together with the creation of new economies.

Within the current stage considered as the first one, the section from De Haan to Zeebrugge is considered to explain the transformation of the landscape, where four coast oriented cities (De Haan, Wenduin, Blankenberge and Zeebrugge) are in the centre of a dramatic change of the landscape around them, forcing them to rethink their spatial configuration. The linear dyke is the main artificial structure in the place while the dune stripe between De Haan and Wenduine togueter with the creek of Blankerberge are the main natural structures to be followed.

The second stage consists in already creating two hard lines that can trigger the process of sedimentation in the ocean, these structures can function temporally as parking lots for ocean sight seeing. One of these two structures responds in location and orientation to the oblique infrastructural axis observed in De Hann, becoming this axis an important urban line to be followed by the creation of this new structure. The other structure follows the same orientation, but its location is in the middle of the dune forest stripe in a point where a road parallel to the coast gets closer to the sea.

Another important infrastructure begins to be built with the construction of a fragment of the new embankment. This new dyke returns to a perpendicular orientation just like when the first polder dams were built. The new embankment unlike the existing dyke, consists of reused material product of old structures and sand dredging. The new dyke brings the possibility to create a buffer zone made of trees to produce a sense of natural limit between the land and the new embankment.

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New protection embankment

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In this stage the hard lines (a system of linear walls that collect and compact sediment) are extended and keep acting as dead end streets for sight seeing, this structures will eventually hold the new urbanization. The extension of this hard lines and the reorientation of one of them responds to a sedimentation current logic in order to create the lagoons. Meanwhile another portion of the new dyke is built around a not valuable holyday typology tissue which gradually will shift to the new urbanization.

In addition the fresh water swamp begins its process of becoming a swamp forest acting first as a tree nursery; this source of trees are going to feed the flooding forest plain corridor that has the creek as an axis. The saplings can be planted close to each other in order to create a dense patch that will become less dense as the trees grow older and are transplanted into the forest corridor.

In the fourth stage the system of linear walls that collect and compact sediment have been consolidated and new urbanization is already taking place, around these structures a forest grid system is created in order to collect the sediment and to fix the new land. This grid presents voids where the future lagoons are to be made.

The new soft embankment is finished and the old hard dyke has been destroyed to give rise to the de-poldering process, so water finally enters the land again in a dynamic cycle driven by the tide.

The freshwater swamp and the tree nursery working in this ecosystem, is starting the afforestation process along the corridor.

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Tree nursery feeding Flooding plain forest corridor

Nursery Saplings

Semi mature

Mature

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In this stage, a new linear structure is created, separated from the existing ones, which already have land around them product of the land fixation process driven by the forest grid system. Because of its broken line figure the structure allows to gather sediment on one side meanwhile lowering the tide on the other to recreate conditions for a lagoon.

Salt marsh ecosystem starts consolidating in the area where sea has returned, recreating both foreseen ecosystems: freshwater swamp and sea water swamp.

On the most protected area of the new land new fishponds have been engaged to develop an economical activity.

The flooding plain forest corridor remains with its process of afforestation sustained by the tree nursery in the fresh water swamp ecosystem.

With the creation of new land, natural afforestation coming from hinterdunes takes place.

In the sixth stage the system of linear walls has been consolidated . Around the structures created in the previous stage, again a forest grid to fix the land has been placed. While the forest grid system fixes land, the voids in the grid allow seawater to infiltrate slowly on the brand new created land only to give rise to the spontaneous growth of lagoons. On one of this incipient lagoons more economical activity has been triggered related to aquaculture, given the spatial conditions.

In addition to this, the dune forest infiltrates in the urban area of De Haan, expanding its ecosystem not only into the new land but into the city.

Both swamp ecosystems on each side of the embankment have been consolidated: salt marsh and freshwater swamp, this second one continues feeding with trees the corridor and the canalized creek has returned to its natural river condition, by widening its course thanks to the linear forest structure.

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Forest grid fixing land

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In this stage the land reclaiming process and de-poldering process have been consolidated, the new land is fixed the lagoons and new beaches are recreated thanks to the forest grid system nurtured by new urbanization and new economical activities related to aquaculture. An effective expansion of the dune forest occurs, connecting and inscribing the new land into a coherent landscape.

Dynamism has returned to a previously polder area in which saltmarsh ecosystem contributes to biodiversity. Flooding based ecosystems are consolidated as much as in sea water as in fresh water, recovering partly the richness of an estuary. A much less hard defence is created relying on a combination of different layers of natural based system landscape.

A flooding plain corridor structures the recovered estuary and holds water basins lakes. The proposed ecosystems interact and influence on each other strengthening a coherent resilient landscape.

Last complementary processes consolidated the proposed dynamic, diverse resilient landscape; such as infiltration of the dune forest in De Haan and its expansion towards the whole new land, while perpendicularly ,a dense flooding plain forest corridor as part of a recreated estuary, gets connected in a depoldered area.

By having the different processes and complementary processes of the new proposed landscape acting as a whole, a new configuration of urban has happened. The city of De Haan can grow following the road that structures the town and continues to structure the new land and new urbanization. Wenduin has become a link of recovered ecosystems, towards the ocean the new beaches and lagoons, while facing an important front of dune forest and de-poldered swamps on the other side. Blankenberge can face the beach and the recovered estuary. Zeebrugge expands and reorients the shore and the linear beach.

Under this proposal following the strategic guidelines, not only a more dynamic, diverse, resilient landscape has been recreated but also cities have experienced a new configuration that make each one different from another.

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5 Aquaculture as a trigger for new sustainable development: Wenduin .Inmerse in the proposed new ecosystems that contribute to a new landscape for the coast, the city of Wenduin, plays a strategic role, as this town is the link for different ecosystems, moreover the project defined for Wenduin is a direct result of the initial concepts that synthetizes one of the aims of the research; a sustainable development.

A diversity of ecosystems surround the city of Wenduin, changing the configuration and linear scheme that has oriented this and every city along the coast. One of the first important elements in this project is the creation of forest tentacles that act as a gate for the city to enter an urban forest which later leads to the freshwater swamp and flooding plain forest. These forest entries creates a transitional space between the more dense forest and the city. Besides this transitional space is the new embankment that limits the accessible area and the de-poldered land, it is possible to have a walk on top of the dam, since there are lines of trees on the dyke.

On the other side of the dyke a new economical activity takes places; fishponds.

These fish ponds of regular configuration activate new way of using the new lowtide bay. A peninsula has been created to develop new beach infrastructure, that breaks the linear scheme development used up till now. A new seafront is proposed to enter to the new land from the city with new equipment including a fish market, but also as a meeting point for the city, the dune forest and the new land. For this purpose the new tramline defines not only a new route but also significant tram stops, one of them in this place.

After entering the new land from the city (or from the dune forest) a new type of beach has been produced with the wall linear system and the forest grid fixing land system. This new beach faces a lagoon, a low lying slow tide sea pool. In front of this beach another kind of aquaculture takes place; lobster ponds.

This activity is held by the linear structure that allowing to grow new urbanization. The new urbanization is between a system of linear walls that allow to compress sand and make space for urban growth. This system also gives the chance to create different configuration for aquaculture, having oysters and shrimps ponds facing Wenduin.

Behind the new urbanization a much less heavy system of structures fixes the land by having dune forest following linear structures.

The project achieved for Wenduin is the result of a conceptual thinking nurtured by research that gradually is translated into spatial approaches that reflect a deep understanding of the contemporary conditions that the Belgian coast needs to face. Among these conditions climate change is at the top, thus recovering a dynamic diverse resilient landscape that can cope with ecology issues is vital Equally significant is improving the living conditions by creating quality private and public spaces, and creating an scenario for emergent economies to achieve sustainable development. This way the final project is a synthetic result, that critically understands the complexity of the territory and offers a time framed multilayered and multiscaled designbased anwears.

new urbanization

linear structure system de-poldered swamp aquaculture new beach

forest grid structures

aquaculture

new sea front

new protection embankment

lagoon aquaculture new tramline new beach

urban forest

dune forest

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