Case Studies
Envisioning Circular Urban Projects, Cities and Regions: the case of Porte Ouest in Charleroi, Belgium
The ‘Forging the Fallow’ project was developed by Cecilia Furlan, Sven Mertens, Matthias Salaets, Michaël Stas, and Benjamin Vanbrabant for the Europan 15 Open Competition. In this video, Cecilia describes the project’s approach and especially, how circularity informed the group’s design decisions. This case study represents a fine example of circular principles can be operationalized across time, spatial flows and flows and how the landscape profoundly connects and shapes these flows.
Main Takeaways
- Circular cities and regions are complex socio-economic and environmental systems.
- Mapping can help is draw a clear picture of what is available. There are several analytical tools for mapping: interpretative mapping, social impact analysis, thinking in time and flows, and systemic design.
- Circularity requires that we broaden our imagination and explore possible futures.
- In the case of Porte Ouest, three actions were proposed: regenerating, reconnecting and recirculating. These aimed at reactivating the landscape; re-establishing an infrastructural connection to the site; and developing new activities based on the life-cycle of local resources respectively.
- Whilst the spatial dimension is key, circularity can only be achieved through collaboration.
Project Details
Forging the Fallow
Location: Charleroi, BE
Program: Masterplan
Year: 2019-…
Client: City of Charleroi, Duferco
Status: Europan 15, Open competition, Runner up (no winning project selected)
Budget: n/a
Fallow team: Cecilia Furlan, Sven Mertens, Matthias Salaets, Michaël Stas, Benjamin Vanbrabant
Link to the Europan site.
Further Reading
- Fabian L. Giannotti E. & Viganò P. (2012). Recycling city : lifecycles embodied energy inclusion. Giavedoni.
- Furlan, C., Stas, M., Vanbrabant, B., & Mertens, S. (2018). Vers les Pays Vert: The metamorphosis of Charleroi territory. Officina, (21 (Natura)), 40-49.
- Furlan, C. (2019). Unfolding wasteland: a thick mapping approach to the transformation of Charleroi’s industrial landscape. In Mapping Landscapes in Transformation. Leuven University Press.
- Furlan, C., & Gonella, G. (2019). Oltre lo scarto: Il paesaggio post industriale della Val di Sambre. In Territorio e Produzione (pp. 30-37). Quodlibet.
Author
Cecilia Furlan
Postdoc Researcher
Dr. Arch. Cecilia Furlan is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Department of Urbanism, TU Delft and at the Institute of Landscape Architecture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU Vienna. Since 2020, she also collaborated with the Design Science Hub of the University of Antwerp. She holds advanced degrees in architecture (IUAV Venice 2010), in Urbanism (European Postgraduate Master in Urbanism, IUAV Venice and KU Leuven 2012), and a joint PhD in Urbanism and Engineering (IUAV Venice and KU Leuven 2017). She was called to be a visiting researcher at UC Louvain, USI Antwerp and won the AESOP Young Investigator Training Program Award 2019. In 2019, She was selected as one of the winners of the EUROPAN15 design competition with a project that integrates systemic interventions with territorial design ones. Cecilia’s interest focuses on urban landscape design towards sustainability and circularity. In particular on sustainable urban landscape development under conditions of resource scarcity. She believes cities and territories can do more with less, working towards sustainable growth.
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