Antwerp will grow significantly in the coming years, requiring thousands of new homes and facilities. PosadMaxwan has therefore developed a densification strategy to transform the 20th century belt into vibrant, diverse urban areas.
Antwerp expects to grow to the size of the city of Mechelen in the coming years. An additional 15,000 to 30,000 housing units are needed, including associated amenities. This growth will occur primarily in Antwerp's 20th century belt, a highly diverse area that is now primarily an organically grown potpourri of programs and structures. The original design provides space to accommodate growth, and at the same time creates the opportunity to further develop the fledgling, unfinished urbanity of the 20th century belt.
With Maat designers, 3E and Shinsekai Analysis, PosadMaxwan developed a densification strategy for Antwerp's 20th century belt. The project uses the densification task to re-evaluate the spatial quality and level of amenities in the neighborhoods. By introducing "micro-centricity," we bet on local development in and around existing and new amenity centers. Monofunctional residential areas are thus transformed into attractive and recognizable urban areas with a great diversity of facilities. In this way, densification acts as a lever for qualitative urban renewal.
Densification explicitly calls for an approach that focuses on both the quantitative task and the qualitative task: building an attractive living environment that can compete with the city center and the green urban fringe.
1) Residential densification. As a basis and a lever: densifying the housing supply.
2) Dynamics. Establishing momentum through a mix of ancillary amenities.
3) Embedding. Embedding the densification project qualitatively into the existing fabric.
4) Intermediate scale. Committing to a project scale that clearly opts for an intermediate size of 50 to 150 housing units.
5) Supplier. Forming a provider of urban services in terms of energy, mobility, water and public space...
6) Development Methodology. Developing a development methodology that commits to project mode and transformation mechanisms.
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