II solemnlysolemnly pledge pledge to to public public space space dualities in contemporary publicURBAN BOULEVARDS space developments; polycentralisation, collectivity, digitalisation and urban identities applied in brussels’ leopold quarter and the european project. URBAN BOULEVARDS BLOCK INTERIOR URBAN BOULEVARDS FORUM SQUARE BLOCK INTERIOR FORUM SQUARE BLOCK INTERIOR L DANIEL SWAKMAN thesis.indd 1 08/04/2011 14:54:15 FORUM SQUARE preface a strategy and design. The second chapter, “Changing COLOPHON urban public space”, gives an overview of the first PREFACE part of the theoretical background. It is actually a architecture+urbanism graduation thesis This thesis roughly concerns public space; its reworking of a paper written earlier on in the research, L Daniel Swakman theorisations, its urban perception, its issues of now fitted into the larger scope of this thesis. The identity and property, and finally its crafting and third chapter “Celebrating Europe” discusses the 12 april 2011 design. second part of the theory; the location-specific themes It is a means of exploring a personal fascination with that have been researched and analysed. In the fourth the public domain. It can be seen as a pivot point in tutors (architecture): S. Lee, T. Avermaete chapter “Embedded publicness” the observations the functioning of the city, a place where the actors from both previous chapters are combined into the of the urban condition meet, move, interact and tutors (urbanism): W. Hermans, S. Read elaboration of the urban strategy for the case study effectively live out the city. This thesis therefore location. The fifth chapter “A European Forum” deals tutor (building technology): E. van der has a research component which deals with the with the elaboration of the physical design for one of Zaag contemporary phenomena in public space. Namely its the strategic projects. developments of mobility and digitalisation. In a more real and practical sense, the thesis has a real As a newspaper, this thesis has different levels Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of component: the analysis, treatment, of reading; there is the Technology strategy and design of an actual urban This thesis roughly ‘headhunting’ (Duch: situation. concerns public space; koppensnellen) and visual A conclusive statement would All content made by its theorisations, its browsing, which should give be that this thesis is the final the reader an overview of (unless stated otherwise) product of a 1,5 year graduation L Daniel Swakman urban perception, its the content and understand project in the combined field of issues of identity and the line of reasoning from architecture+urbanism. This has been property, and finally its the images and diagrams. a conscious combination. Typeface design The second layer is the crafting and design. Europa, London, UK underlined parts of the texts. www.europaeuropa.co.uk They allow for a more textual READING GUIDE elaboration (in keywords) The thesis is divided in five parts: the introduction, of the images and headlines. When one dives into initiating th reader in the topic of this research the texts themselves, the total content is revealed, and outlining the problem definition, aim and and elaborated on. This way, both quick readers and methodology for the development of the research into people who are interested further are served. thesis.indd 2 08/04/2011 14:54:16 contents preface 2 01 introduction 5 01.01 topic 5 01.02 problem definition 6 01.03 research question 6 01.05 case location 7 02 changing urban public space 9 02.01 introduction 9 02.02 theoretical background 10 02.02.01 non-places 02.02.02 despatialised city 02.02.03 personalised portability 02.03 the effects 11 02.03.01 decentralisation 02.03.02 augmented reality 02.03.03 urban identity 02.03.04 collectivisation 02.04 conclusions 14 03 celebrating europe 15 03.01 introduction 15 03.02 historical developments 15 03.03 development into the EU quarter 19 03.04 network analysis of Brussels 19 03.06 a grid pattern vs the object city 21 03.07 a european capital and symbiosis 21 03.08 public space atmosphere 23 03.09 conclusion 23 04 urban strategy 25 04.01 problem summary 25 04.02 proposal 26 04.03 from flatness to a polycentric network 26 04.04 project 1 urban boulevards 28 04.05 project 2 recaptured blocks 29 04.06 project 3 european forum 28 06 reflection/recommendations 31 bibliography 33 appendices 35 thesis.indd 3 08/04/2011 14:54:16 Mulberry street in Little Italy, New York, around 1900 Patchwork Metropolis, Willem Jan Neutelings street scene in front of New York’s Grand Central Station, 2008 map of light pollution in Europe around urban cores 4 thesis.indd 4 08/04/2011 14:54:20 01introduction TOPIC into the car and drive onto the highway, or whether 2004). The integration of the new office functions The contemporary city is a place of constant change we emerge from a metro entrance in a vibrant part of with its context was absent, since there had never and development. A simple but eloquent statistic is town – no longer are we able to understand the city been a vision of how this office development should the world’s urban population in relation to the rural. by its sequence of spaces. On top of that, a completely relate to the context it was set in. From 2007 onwards, more people have been living new type of space needed to be designed: that space This outlines the main problem the European Quarter in urban areas than on the countryside [Figure x]. dominated by infrastructure. Metro stations, airport has to deal with: an expanding but decentralised The Industrial Revolution allowed people to move lounges, highways and their environments – all European Union government, housed in a with automated means, and examples of a space typology that emerged right along monumental former residential area of a culturally incorporate distant locations with the technologies very defined city, lacking a clear identity or even a into their daily patterns; the “the traditional image they derive from: non- direction of architectonic expression. Digital Revolution allowed of public space in places. people to communcate a pre-industrialised This introduction to the topic of this thesis already and work on these distant This thesis discusses shows the [dual/twofold] character of the theoretical locations. The traditional society has been the effect of an urban background: the first part being the observations of image of public space in a pre- replaced by a space space that is not only the changes our public space is undergoing as a result industrialised society [Figure x] dominated by significant as a local of increasing mobility and communication, and the has been replaced by a space place, but embedded in second part being the discussion of the case study dominated by infrastructure and infrastructure and an increasingly larger set of the European Union, and its role in the city of communication [Figure x]. communication” of networks. An eloquent Brussels. The paragraph ‘case study location’, further example of such an on in this introduction, will show the considerations This pattern has been a driving increasing density of for choosing the European project. force in the globalisation of cities throughout the networks and layers in a part of the city, and thereby planet. This connectivity of metropolises gave way an increasing complexity, is the situation of the capital for a new type of culture, rather different than that of the European Union. Ever since the emergence of of the local culture. Like the emergence of a city as European collaboration treaties like the ECSC and the PROBLEM DEFINITION a centrality between a landscape of small villages, EEC in the 1950s [note], the issue has emerged of how The globalising tendency of urban spaces puts the the global city is a centrality between large cities such a international (if not global) political institution city under pressure: an emerging and increasing throughout the planet. And likewise, a global culture should manifest itself. The first aspect of it is the confrontation of multiple identities and networks. No of connectivity emerges in those places of a city that notion of a capital: the European officially lists three: longer is the city home to people living and working are embedded in larger networks. Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. In these cities, within its borders, making it their place; but the city’s the seven institutional bodies of the European Union public space has had to deal with its being a host to The particularly fascinating aspect of this above are housed, the majority of which are located in external visitors and corresponding identities. mentioned shift from the city as a regional centrality Brussels. At present date, four of the seven European These newcomers in the city’s space are not mere towards its being a node in a network of increasing governing bodies are located in the Leopold Quarter in incidents; they leave their distinct trace. The city’s size, is the perception of the urban space by the city Brussels, occupying almost a million square meters in space is now a shared domain. dweller. A direct result of the availability of faster this centrally located part of the city. One of the main tangible components is a new means of transportation – like the car, train, metro, type of space as a result of the physical scale of airplane and so forth – is a shift in perception of the The relationship of the city of Brussels with the transportation interventions: the train stations and city around you. Instead of experiencing the city from European Union as its inhabitant can be said to be airport lounges that facilitate modern global mobility.