Cities of Belgium - Pt. 2 - Louvain la Neuve, Newtown

[Ronald]

Okay, so four threads might not be enough to share all my photos from my 8-day tour of Belgium with planning students and staff from my uni. Later, Ghent, Brugge, the Coast, Ieper and Mons will follow. This thread is about

Louvain-la-Neuve

This city was created from scratch in 1971. It was the first new town to be founded in Belgium since Charleroi (which was founded 3 centuries prior). The city finds its orgins in the language battle that has been going on in Belgium for decades. The prestigious university of Leuven (Louvain in French) insisted on kicking out all french-speaking professors and students in 1968. So they founded New Leuven (Louvain-la-Neuve) in the french-speaking part of the nation. By the late 70s, the transfer was completed and the two language groups were completely seperated.

The town is also very interessting from a planning point of view. It was built around 9 principles:
1. A city on the 'human scale'
2. The local 'site' determines the layout of the city
3. The university is the 'engine' of the city
4. Attempting to reach a high social diversity (building homes for many income classes)
5. The city is built for pedestrians first, other modes of transportation come in second.
6. An urban 'atmosphere' must be created from the very beginning (a lively atmosphere).
7. Flexibility: when different types of land use are demanded on the market, the city should be able to adapt itself to that demand. This principle builts on the idea that the city should be able to support a change in urban functions.
8. Safe-guard the development of an urban centre. The idea here is, that the city should not grow into a structure-less agglomeration (there are plenty of those in Belgium already). The growth of the entire city will be realized in good relation to the existing city centre (In short, balanced city growth).
9. The city should be well-integrated into the environment, and it should not pollute the surrounding landscape.

Enough talking, here are some pictures already.

Central square.

Housing above stores, around the central square.

Students still rule the city's streetscape.

Aula Magna, where major events (such as graduation ceremonies) are held.

Cars are delegated to the edges of the city. You park them here, and walk through town from there on.

In the quieter streets, it becomes obvious that this city was built for pedestrians.

Back in the centre. As Observer Walt noticed, these streets are designed in a way, to resemble old medieval city centres. It makes for quite a paradox, as all of the buildings were built in 1971 or after that.

Art can be found on many walls in the city.

Fresh strawberries, anyone?

The oldest building in town: this farmhouse was around before everything else.

The farmhouse above was built along an existing road (pictured below).
Pedestrian roads like this one connect residential neighbourhoods with each other, they are the main 'thoroughfares' of the town.

Brutalist architecture? These concrete structures look like they haven't been maintained too well since the seventies.

The city is doing quite well. Recently, this shopping mall (the biggest in French-speaking Belgium) has been opened up. If you leave it through the back door, you are facing empty farmland. That shows just how young the city is.

Underneath the city centre (and exactly in the middle of the centre!), a railway station has been built. This was one of the very first finished constructions in the city. Louvain-la-Neuve is situated ideally, at 30km from Brussels, 32 from Namur and 40 from Charleroi. Many people live in Louvain and work in Brussels. The other way around, many students still live with their parents in Brussels for example, and take the train to the uni during weekdays.

To finish off, a few shots from the city centre.

Everything taken together, I found it a very interessting town. I did feel like I was walking in some sort of themed holiday park, however (it's pretty unusuall to see nothing but buildings from 1971 or after that, it makes the town look fake).
I am still working on a report on the development of this city, it's been a great assignment to work on so far!

Keep an eye on the city photos forum for more of my pics

 

[Observer Walt]

Ronald, thanks for these pictures. These are IMO the best yet. This is an interesting concept, and one that is unknown around here. It's a pretty radical concept to ban the cars to the fringes and put so much emphasis on creating a pedestrian environment.

It's very interesting that you find the place liveable and carefully designed, yet with a bit of a "fake" feel. I wonder sometimes if a place can be "over planned". Or maybe it's a function of having no real historic buildings, even though many of those which you depict are a good approximation.

Very interesting stuff!!

 

[AnarchoSocialist]

I agree with Observer that this is the best series yet that you have posted (though all of your pictures have been very nice and much appreciated).

Do you know what the population of the city is off hand (and maybe even the size of the city in square kilometers)? Also, does the city have specific growth targets for the future? Do the governments (all levels) make an effort to encourage growth and have people move too the city or do they simply let the city grow as it may? Is the population of people that work in Brussels and commute daily from Louvain la Neuve fairly large or does it have a respectable employment base within the city itself? How do planners in Beglium and Europe see the city now? Is it seen as successful or is it heavily criticised?

That the city was created out of the linguistic divide in Belgium is also really interesting. Are there any other instances where language has, or is, affecting planning and development in Belgian cities to a similair degree?

Look forward to seeing the rest of the photos from your trip.

 

[JasonParis]

Very interesting. Reminds me a bit of Cologne, but about 25 years more modern.

 

[Ronald]

I agree with Observer that this is the best series yet that you have posted (though all of your pictures have been very nice and much appreciated).

Do you know what the population of the city is off hand (and maybe even the size of the city in square kilometers)? Also, does the city have specific growth targets for the future? Do the governments (all levels) make an effort to encourage growth and have people move too the city or do they simply let the city grow as it may? Is the population of people that work in Brussels and commute daily from Louvain la Neuve fairly large or does it have a respectable employment base within the city itself? How do planners in Beglium and Europe see the city now? Is it seen as successful or is it heavily criticised?

That the city was created out of the linguistic divide in Belgium is also really interesting. Are there any other instances where language has, or is, affecting planning and development in Belgian cities to a similair degree?

Look forward to seeing the rest of the photos from your trip.

Anarcho,
it might be too early to draw conclusions, as the city has only had 4 decades to develop. But in general, the attitude towards the city is positive: it is becoming a 'normal town', with a diversified population (roughly half of the inhabitants are student) and a diversified economy (trade and industry account for 70% of local employment).
The city continues to develop, but the 9 principles on which the city was founded have not been abandoned (and will not be abandoned anytime soon).
The municipality had 29.521 inhabitants in 2006. When the town was founded in the 70s, the expectation was widely held among planners that the town would have about 50,000 inhabitants by now. That target has been lowered to 30,000 (which the city will reach shortly).
I do not know of any government efforts to stimulate people to move to the city. So growth is probably not heavily encouraged. The growth that takes place, is strictly planned (the urban growth at least, I don't know about other types of growth).
In the first plan of the city (dating from the 70s), the total built environment compromises 338 hectare or 835 acres (I believe you use acres in Canada?). 444 acres have been designated as 'nature to be perserved'. A science park, compromising 415 acres was also planned in the 70s. It has been significantly expanded since then. In the very first phase of development, the university bought 2223 acres to build their campus on.

This is the most radical example of how the linguistic divide influences planning, IMO.
Another odd result of the linguistic divide is the subway system of Charleroi (Walloon region). It has 68 stations, on a population of 200.000.
It consists of 8 lines, leading to the edges of the town from a central loop. Parts of the 48-kilometer network have been open to traffic from the mid-70s to the mid-90s.
The city, and the entire region is amongst the poorest of Europe. But the federal tax system send astronomical amounts of money (subsidies) from Flandres (one of Europe's very richest regions) to the Walloon region. As a result of having two totally different regions in one country, billions of belgian francs (tax money) went from Flandres to the Walloon region. The (nowadays closed and unfinished) subway network of Charleroi is one thing they wasted money on in the Walloon region.
A complex network of locks in the channels of the Walloon region (the channel from Brussels to Charleroi for example) is another example of investments made with tax money from Flandres. It's also a pretty useless investment, considering that hardly any freight is transported via those channels today. The locks are mostly a tourist attraction.

Hope that answers your questions. If you have any more, shoot!

 

[Ronald]

Here are some photos of the locks (this one is the biggest one in the world).

 

[Observer Walt]

Wow, a subway system of 68 stations to serve a city of 200,000?

It almost sounds like they had "money to burn" as we sometimes say. Hopefully more sensible infrastructure investments are now being made.