From the Heritage City of Louvain/Leuven to the New Louvain University Town

Sub-theme B-2 CIVVIH ICOMOS 2016 FROM THE HERITAGE CITY OF LOUVAIN/LEUVEN TO THE NEW LOUVAIN UNIVERSITY TOWN Pierre Laconte1* 1President, Foundation for the Urban Environment, Abdijdreef 19, Kortenberg 3070, Belgium Abstract The historic Flemish city of Leuven (Louvain in French), was a major centre of the textile industry in the middle ages. It suffered industrial decline, leading to urban renewal in 1425 through the creation of a university. The Louvain/Leuven culural heritage of high density mixed residential, commercial and university buildings is well preserved, inter alia the “Beguinage”, an urban area of small houses and gardens for single old women, gradually abandoned and renewed in the 60’s to house university staff (World Heritage inscription 1988). Belgium’s language conflict led to the French-speaking section of the university, its staff and students moving out of Leuven into the French-speaking part of the country. The university choose to create a completely new university town, and bought in 1968 920 hectares of farmland, less than 30 km from both Leuven and Brussels, on which to build a “New Louvain”. This new university town aimed from the start at reproducing the Leuven university and urban mix, being therefore both a “place of memory” and a place for contemporary university planning and architecture (Abercrombie Award of the International Union of Architects 1978). The two cities are connected since 1975 by a direct train line. In 2016 the two cities decided to twin, while the two universities jointly organised the 500th anniversary commemoration of Thomas More’ “Utopia”, a world cultural landmark published in Louvain/Leuven in 1516, and are developing various common projects. The objective of the paper is to explain both the cultural heritage preservation of historic Leuven and the planning process of the new Louvain. Both are aiming at sustainability, in particular through high density-low rise design, rail public transport-oriented development, and reserving streets and public spaces for pedestrians. The new town has gone as far as reserving all of its public space to pedestrians. All building development there takes place through long term leases, allowing the university to keep control of the construction quality. To summarise the main features: - The new Louvain aimed at both architectural innovation and urban design inspired by the old Louvain/Leuven. - Sustainability and economy concerns led to a linear form of development along a pedestrian spine and a string of small squares, of a fully pedestrian town centre, a priority given to rail transport - thanks to the National Railways investing in a new underground railway station. - The linear pedestrian spine has been the backbone for the development of both university faculties, residential/commercial neighbourhoods, a Museum and a shopping mall directly linked to the railway station. In some 45 years Belgium’s only new town has become its fastest growing urban service centre of Belgium. - Storm water is collected into a reservoir, treated as a lake. Keywords: historic-cities, development, university, density, adaptive-reuse. [email protected] +32.2.759.61.88 Abdijdreef 19 – B-3070 Kortenberg 1 Sub-theme B-2 CIVVIH ICOMOS 2016 1. The location of the old City of Louvain/Leuven and the new Louvain. Central Belgium is a highly urbanised area, Brussels being the centre of a metropolitan region including the cities of Antwerp, Ghent Bruges and Louvain/Leuven to its north and the cities of Charleroi, Nivelles, Ottignies- Louvain-la-Neuve (as a result of its development) and Wavre to its south. Most of them are within commuting distance of each other and from Brussels (LACONTE 2007). Fig. 1. Satellite map showing the urbanised area of central Belgium, around Brussels. Antwerp lies 50 km to the north, Ghent 60 km to the west and Louvain/Leuven 25 km to the East of central Brussels, in the Flemish region and form a kind of diamond (lined in black). The loose conurbation south of Brussels forms a kind of triangle. The Louvain new town has been located in that part of the Walloon region, at less than 30 km south of central Brussels (lined in black). The university bought 920 ha farm land, in view of building on it a complete town. The historic Old Louvain/Leuven - East of Brussels - and the New Louvain university town - South of Brussels - are shown on the map by yellow squares. 2. Development of the City of Louvain /Leuven and its university. As most cities in the early midde-ages the city of Louvain/Leuven developed at a river-road crossing used by the merchant’s caravans. These « merchant cities » formed a maze some 30 km apart, corresponding to the distance caravans covered in one day. Within the Duchy of Brabant Louvain/Leuven and Brussels emerged as the most powerful cities. In 1312 Duke Jan II, under under financial pressure, obtained consent from the people of [email protected] +32.2.759.61.88 Abdijdreef 19 – B-3070 Kortenberg 2 Sub-theme B-2 CIVVIH ICOMOS 2016 Brabant to raise the level of taxes, in return for a a charter. This charter guaranteed the rights of citizens, in line with the English Magna Carta, created a Council with dual representation (of cities and citizens) and introduced the impeachement, i.e. the deposition of the Duke if he would not respect the charter. It was thus a forerunner of modern constitutions. The charter was signed in the abbey of Kortenberg, located between the rival cities of Brussels and Louvain/Leuven, and is known as the Charter of Kortenberg. Fig. 2. Louvain/Leuven market place, location of the former cloth market that became the university’s headquarters in 1425. The center of the city was largely destroyed during the first World War and reconstructed in the 1920’s, preserving the old street pattern and cadastral plot division. The prosperity of the city was mainly based on its textile industry. In the 15th Century it went into decline because of international competition and reinvented itself by obtaining a papal decree authorising the creation of a university, in line with the papal creation of Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Heidelberg and Krakow, among others. The disused cloth market hall was adapted for reuse as the university headquarters. The university became one of the great European universities. In 1516 Thomas More published his celebrated “Utopia” in Louvain/Leuven. The original university teaching language was Latin, later French and Dutch, in separate sections. Louvain/Leuven was very heavily damaged in 1914 by German troops, when they forced their way through Belgium, notwithstanding its fierce resistance, and occupied the entire country (except fofor a small coastal area) until 1918. After the war reconstruction took place, respecting most of the former sstreet pattern. The style of the new buildings reflected the different styles of former centuries, but kept an overall coherence. This was criticised at the time as an imitation of the past rather than a bold step towards the future. Only at the end of the 20th century was the quality of this way of planning and building recognised internationally. Within old Louvain/Leuven the Groot Begijnhof/Grand Béguinage, located south of the town centre, is of particular interest. It was a large neighbourhood occupied by single ladies (“beguines”) who could not afford the market cost of housing. It was a “social housing” estate before this term existed. [email protected] +32.2.759.61.88 Abdijdreef 19 – B-3070 Kortenberg 3 Sub-theme B-2 CIVVIH ICOMOS 2016 Fig. 3. The Groot Begijnhof/Grand Béguinage of Leuven. The Beguinage neighbourhood (ca 3 ha) has the appearance of a small town on its own right, with houses planned along a network of narrow streets and small squares. This is in contrast to the beguinages of Bruges or Amsterdam, where houses face a central courtyard. The only large open space, on the left bank of the river, resulted from the demolition of some houses in the 19th century (see photo). Photo RLICC 2016. The majority of the houses date from the middle of the 17th century. They were constructed in the traditional local architectural style, enriched with some sober baroque elements. The facades are of red bricks with sandstone transoms and frames for windows and doors. As seen in the photo there are numerous dormers, often decorated with crow-stepped gables and round arched windows. Some houses were replaced or constructed in the 19th century, but fewer than in other Flemish beguinages. Most of the beguines left in the 20th century because of the provision of more comfortable public housing, but although the area became dilapidated, it was perfectly fit for adaptive reuse. This adaptive reuse was achieved by transforming the entire Beguinage into housing for university staff and students, equipped with modern appliances but totally respecting the dense urban character of the neighbourhood. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988. This masterly neighbourhood restauration was directed by historian of architecture Raymond Lemaire, who also became famous for other large-scale restorations, such as the temples of Borobudur in Indonesia, and for the creation in 1964, together with Piero Gazzola, of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). He was teaching in boththe Dutch- and in French-speaking sections of the university. This was common practice in Louvain/Leuven, as in other bilingual cities such as Bolzano/Bosen in Italy, Neuchâtel or Biel/Bienne in Switserland, or Turku/Abo in Finland. The gradual suppression of the French language in the Flemish region led to the banning of the French-speaking section of the University from Louvain/Leuven in 1968. This was the tipping point that led to the need to create a new French-speaking university.

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