A learning expedition in Antwerp for the Executive master GTDU

The students of the Executive master Regional governance and urban development (GTDU) were in Learning expedition in Antwerp, Belgium, from 21 to 24 September.

This learning expedition proposed to examine what solutions - technical, social, political etc. - are currently being developed in Antwerp. While transformative adaptation remains case specific, this old European city stands out for its efforts to adopt an ambitious climate adaptation strategy. This thriving port city faces major challenges in the context of climate change, in particular due to its geographical location along the eastern bank of the river Scheldt and its linkage to the North Sea through the Westerschelde estuary. It has also been singled-out by the N-VA ruling majority as a laboratory to experiment with new technologies and innovative solutions. In 2017, it adopted the ambition of becoming climate neutral by 2050 and emit at least 40% less CO2 by 2030. Taking stock of the decade long controversy around the Ring road project, the latest Strategic Spatial Plan seeks to reconnect the city with the river and to integrate this forthcoming infrastructure into planning goals. The adoption of the 2020 Climate Plan and its dedicated governance structure also are instrumental in the city’s ambition to integrate all policy sectors (housing, mobility, energy, water management, etc.) and ensure the buy-in of business actors and civil society.

Our ambition during this learning expedition was to explore how climate adaptation impacts urban governance in Antwerp and its wider region, and whether it contributes to re-prioritizing policy objectives across policy sectors and re-distributing resources and investments among social groups and areas. Through a series of meetings with a large variety of stakeholders and site visits, we seeked to examine this European city’s efforts in the context of climate change as well as their ransformative impact at the broader economic, social and institutional level.

See the facebook photo album