The Brabant Delta
2017
Vereniging Deltametropool
programme
Synthesis and design research
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The Δ symbol (pronounced "delta", the Greek capital letter D) means change or difference.
The west and northwest of Brabant is part of the Dutch delta and is in many ways a transition landscape. This is already noticeable in the subsoil with dynamic transitions between wet and dry, sand and clay, high and low, sweet and salty. These gradual transitions offer varied conditions for special and valued landscapes such as mud flats, salt marshes and seepage nature.
West Brabant is also a landscape of streams, tracks, pipes and roads along which people, goods and raw materials travel between Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brabantstad. The open landscape offers space for the cultivation of sugar beets and potatoes. But also to chemical clusters, logistics parks and large-scale greenhouse horticulture. Historically, West Brabant also often served as a transit area and military buffer zone. On the way to the Dutch and Zeeland cities, the Spaniards and French were kept at a distance by flooding large contiguous areas.
And now, on the eve of transitions in agriculture, industry, energy, water system and nature, the large-scale, open landscape and urban area will transform again. This is the right time to calibrate the identity of the area and determine course. Does the transition landscape also offer qualities that make it a pleasant living environment and recreational destination? Can the central location and good accessibility be combined with the landscape and cultural-historical potential? Can this area grow into an attractive residential and recreational area in the middle of the most urbanized area of northwestern Europe? Why is the area not yet recognized as such? What is needed to achieve that?
We try to provide answers to the above questions through design research. We think that scale plays an important role in this. Many of today's valued landscapes are too fragmented and have insufficient spatial identity. The scale of business clusters and infrastructures requires a major residential and recreational landscape. This can largely be created by strengthening and connecting existing landscapes. Where the existing landscape, cultural-historical and infrastructural structures intersect, unexpected nodes, transitions and exciting contrasts arise.
The west and northwest of Brabant is part of the Dutch delta and is in many ways a transition landscape. This is already noticeable in the subsoil with dynamic transitions between wet and dry, sand and clay, high and low, sweet and salty. These gradual transitions offer varied conditions for special and valued landscapes such as mud flats, salt marshes and seepage nature.
West Brabant is also a landscape of streams, tracks, pipes and roads along which people, goods and raw materials travel between Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brabantstad. The open landscape offers space for the cultivation of sugar beets and potatoes. But also to chemical clusters, logistics parks and large-scale greenhouse horticulture. Historically, West Brabant also often served as a transit area and military buffer zone. On the way to the Dutch and Zeeland cities, the Spaniards and French were kept at a distance by flooding large contiguous areas.
And now, on the eve of transitions in agriculture, industry, energy, water system and nature, the large-scale, open landscape and urban area will transform again. This is the right time to calibrate the identity of the area and determine course. Does the transition landscape also offer qualities that make it a pleasant living environment and recreational destination? Can the central location and good accessibility be combined with the landscape and cultural-historical potential? Can this area grow into an attractive residential and recreational area in the middle of the most urbanized area of northwestern Europe? Why is the area not yet recognized as such? What is needed to achieve that?
We try to provide answers to the above questions through design research. We think that scale plays an important role in this. Many of today's valued landscapes are too fragmented and have insufficient spatial identity. The scale of business clusters and infrastructures requires a major residential and recreational landscape. This can largely be created by strengthening and connecting existing landscapes. Where the existing landscape, cultural-historical and infrastructural structures intersect, unexpected nodes, transitions and exciting contrasts arise.
