belgian coast park
Design Explorations 3, International Center of Urbanism, KU Leuven (Belgium)
In any place in the world, the coast is enigmatic... ...The sea’s vastness and its brute forces, the sunny beaches and relaxing visitors. The meaning of the coast is multiple. In Belgium, the coast is just 60km long, or short. It is one of the most densely urbanized coast lines of the world, complementing the equally densely urbanized ScheldtMeuze Delta. With regards to development, its piecemeal appropriation started from deep inland. The lowlying deltalandscape only reaches 5m above sea level around Bruges. From there, humankind has encroached on the coast by systematically damming and draining the dynamic
estuarine landscape. The polders are testimonies of a lost estuarine sea-land interplay. The dunes lie scattered and fragmented in the thin interplay that is left between sea and land. In some places they are still impressive, in others they have been urbanized since their height provides a safe ground for urbanization. For more than two centuries, the system of interplay between sea and land has been fixed. A safety line has been maintained as a primary objective. Engineered and technical solutions ensure the actual coastal defense: dykes and subsequent dyke
heightening; breakwaters that prevent beach erosion and stimulate sedimentation; tidal locks which organize the interplay between salt (sea) and sweet (inland river) water through draining windows; the artificially drained polders, etc. The solutions not only ensure the current systemic functioning of the landscape, but also the systemic use of the coast and its built infrastructure. The infrastructure of the “royal avenue” with a 2x2-lane road and a 60km fast tram that goes from the outer west (De Panne) to the outer east (Knokke) confirms the linear organization of the sea-land interface along
which urban use has been intensified. A system of sea villages is strung together. Highly valorized, first line apartment buildings (the so called “Atlantic Wall”) and urban centers are supported by the coastal defense, while large areas of drained polder and fixed dunes are occupied by an urbanization with a wide amplitude of qualities, from very affordable and thus widely inclusive campings, to exclusive mansions. All of these housing typologies have either temporary use (as holiday units) or are permanently inhabited.