Landscape-based design strategies as a sustainable backbone for regional public transport in a dispersed territory

One of the possible scenarios to implement a light rail network in Klein-Brabant – a peri-urban sub region of Flanders – is to integrate the hydrological system and the landscape morphology of the area as an asset when defining a light rail network. River trajectories guide the layout and design. Integrating this linear structure with its infrastructural logics in both the natural and man-made landscape requires different strategic choices, as spatial conditions are strongly heterogeneous along its course. Adding an infrastructural line in the peri-urban morphology creates a duality and frames future spatial developments into an infrastructural based landscape strategy and prevents further uncontrolled dispersed urbanization. Based on an in-depth spatial analysis of the territory and the position and layout of new stops in regard to the existing towns and the landscape, four recurrent approaches structure the layout of the line. 1. The “polder edge” approach bundles the light rail line with the existing dyke system, charging the vacant land between the artificial flood protection and the existing towns. The juxtaposition of the existing town and new development initiated around the stop ensures a sustainable framework. 2. The “polder island” approach, in which the light rail infrastructure touches existing towns surrounded by lower land, connects and borders the settlement, while the light rail serves as a necklace and creates opportunities for landscape interventions. 3. Historical river bank towns developed towards the river, with water-bound industries along the river bank. The “waterfront” strategy defines the light rail line as passing through these former harbor towns and industrial sites, creating a clearly defined public space along the riverside along which developments are concentrated. 4. In the “patch regeneration” strategy, light rail infrastructure passes along worn-out industrial patches that separate settlements from the river bank. Positioning the line between these brownfields and towns stimulates a long-term urban regeneration, as it serves as a backbone for both. The approach stimulates strategic interweaving and satellite water bank development.status: publishe