Werkplaats
With urban project "De Torens" the city of Aarschot is working on a greener city, together with uHasselt to lead the participatory process and A2o Architects who’s taking care of the design. A green path will wind from the city center, through a new landscape park, to the "forgotten" Orleans Tower. A fresh, green lung that provides recreation, education and relaxation. A nice place on the outskirts of the city. But what this green connection should look like exactly was put in the hands of the people of Aarschot.
UHasselt, Aarschot and A2o-architects agreed to set up a series of actions with civilians, educational institutes, organizations, stakeholders, … to find out how they envisioned this green zone. And for that, they called me in. So we started planning! We kicked off the project with a little hike on the terrain where the attendants were asked to plant a cool, green flag on the spot they liked the most and tell us in an interview why this was their favorite spot.
After that we set up a website and a physical ‘city lab’ where we could work on the ideas and visions of our actors. We called it Werkplaats. Next step was a series of themed workshops in our Werkplaats where parts of the green zone were discussed and designed with everybody who cared. There was a summer camp where kids explored the terrain and its possibilities. The architecture students of UHasselt turned to the site to design plans. And there was a call for stories and ideas on the communication platforms of the city of Aarschot. There was even a physical map of the terrain in the centerfold of the city magazine that invited the people of Aarschot to go for a stroll, discover the terrain, make notes on the map and drop them in our mailbox.
We asked everybody that one same question: What is your favorite spot on the terrain and why? We mapped every story on our website.
All the ideas and stories where melted together in one design for the tower, path and park that is now going through the planning and application whirlwind. That’s where my job finished and now I’m eagerly looking forward to the day I can discover the new site, together with the residents of Aarschot!
