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Maarten Van Acker
Department of Urban Design and Planning, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

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Research article
Published: 03 June 2021 in Journal of Urban Design
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Urban designs, and in particular urban masterplans, must deal with an inherently uncertain future. However, in practice, many urban masterplans still seem to underestimate or even ignore uncertainty. Some scholars have proposed design flexibility and adaptivity as a way to deal with uncertainties, but a formal framework has been lacking in urban design theory. Drawing upon theories of real options in finance and economics, a framework for design under conditions of uncertainty is developed. Five generic design strategies are identified, offering different flexibility options to urban design. Although such design options are currently used in practice in an intuitive way, the real options framework allows designers to cope with uncertainties in a more structured way and offers the possibility to quantify the added value of flexibility options.

ACS Style

Tom Coppens; Maarten Van Acker; Thomas Machiels; Tine Compernolle. A real options framework for adaptive urban design. Journal of Urban Design 2021, 1 -18.

AMA Style

Tom Coppens, Maarten Van Acker, Thomas Machiels, Tine Compernolle. A real options framework for adaptive urban design. Journal of Urban Design. 2021; ():1-18.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tom Coppens; Maarten Van Acker; Thomas Machiels; Tine Compernolle. 2021. "A real options framework for adaptive urban design." Journal of Urban Design , no. : 1-18.

Journal article
Published: 27 March 2021 in Building and Environment
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Air pollution remains a major environmental and health concern in urban environments, especially in street canyons that show increased pollution levels due to a lack of natural ventilation. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between street canyon morphology and in-canyon pollution levels. However, these studies are typically limited to the scale of a single street canyon and city-wide assessments on this matter are scarce. In 2018, NO2 concentrations were measured in 321 street canyons in the city of Antwerp (Belgium) as part of the large-scale citizen-science project “CurieuzeNeuzen”. In our research, this data was used to study the correlation between morphological indices (e.g. aspect ratio (AR), lateral aspect ratio (LAR), presence of trees) and the traffic volumes on a city-wide scale. The maximum hourly traffic volume (TVmax) and AR correlated significantly with the measured NO2 values, making them useful indicators for air quality in street canyons. For street canyons with AR > 0.65, a TVmax of 300 vehicles/hour was found as a threshold value to guarantee acceptable air quality. No significant correlations were found for the other parameters. Finally, a number of typical street canyon types were defined, which can be of fundamental interest for further research and spatial policy making.

ACS Style

D. Voordeckers; F.J.R. Meysman; P. Billen; T. Tytgat; M. Van Acker. The impact of street canyon morphology and traffic volume on NO2 values in the street canyons of Antwerp. Building and Environment 2021, 197, 107825 .

AMA Style

D. Voordeckers, F.J.R. Meysman, P. Billen, T. Tytgat, M. Van Acker. The impact of street canyon morphology and traffic volume on NO2 values in the street canyons of Antwerp. Building and Environment. 2021; 197 ():107825.

Chicago/Turabian Style

D. Voordeckers; F.J.R. Meysman; P. Billen; T. Tytgat; M. Van Acker. 2021. "The impact of street canyon morphology and traffic volume on NO2 values in the street canyons of Antwerp." Building and Environment 197, no. : 107825.

Journal article
Published: 03 December 2020 in Sustainability
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Flanders (Belgium) is one of the most densely populated regions in Europe. Intensive land use, widespread suburbanization, inadequate environmental qualities, and fragmentation everywhere deteriorate living conditions and put pressure on species and natural habitats. In the past, several governmental initiatives were launched to establish a coherent ecological network to improve the situation. Despite the set objectives, only a little progress was made. Therefore, to establish green infrastructure, a new approach that moves away from previous top-down and one-sided strategies is developed. Making use of Green Infrastructure as a boundary concept, interpretation was given through an open and participatory process. The core is the identification of common objectives (ecosystem services or other objectives/services), the selection of appropriate green infrastructure elements to support the services, and the co-design of a network taking the local socio-ecological realm into account. By applying the methodology in concrete urban and rural projects, we learned that establishing strong coalitions of stakeholders, obtaining and sharing reliable knowledge of the systems are key to an effective realization of green infrastructure.

ACS Style

Jasmien Smets; Geert De Blust; Wim Verheyden; Saskia Wanner; Maarten Van Acker; Francis Turkelboom. Starting a Participative Approach to Develop Local Green Infrastructure; from Boundary Concept to Collective Action. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10107 .

AMA Style

Jasmien Smets, Geert De Blust, Wim Verheyden, Saskia Wanner, Maarten Van Acker, Francis Turkelboom. Starting a Participative Approach to Develop Local Green Infrastructure; from Boundary Concept to Collective Action. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (23):10107.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jasmien Smets; Geert De Blust; Wim Verheyden; Saskia Wanner; Maarten Van Acker; Francis Turkelboom. 2020. "Starting a Participative Approach to Develop Local Green Infrastructure; from Boundary Concept to Collective Action." Sustainability 12, no. 23: 10107.

Research article
Published: 17 September 2020 in Journal of Urban Design
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After a decade marked by the renewal of grand European high-speed railway stations, today, a second wave of station renewal is at hand. This paper argues the importance of the train station in the historical development of smaller cities. Based on comparative research of recent best practices, the contemporary urban design challenges of smaller and medium-sized stations are explored. The paper concludes that the station is no longer shaped as a monolithic, architectural cathedral, as for the grand stations, but interweaves the world of the passer-by with that of the local inhabitant as a system of public infrastructure and facilities.

ACS Style

Maarten Van Acker; Manuela Triggianese. The spatial impact of train stations on small and medium-sized European cities and their contemporary urban design challenges. Journal of Urban Design 2020, 26, 38 -58.

AMA Style

Maarten Van Acker, Manuela Triggianese. The spatial impact of train stations on small and medium-sized European cities and their contemporary urban design challenges. Journal of Urban Design. 2020; 26 (1):38-58.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maarten Van Acker; Manuela Triggianese. 2020. "The spatial impact of train stations on small and medium-sized European cities and their contemporary urban design challenges." Journal of Urban Design 26, no. 1: 38-58.

Journal article
Published: 01 December 2018 in AGORA Magazine
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ACS Style

Jolein Bergers; Maarten Van Acker. Het stedelijk metabolisme van Antwerpen. AGORA Magazine 2018, 34, 8 -11.

AMA Style

Jolein Bergers, Maarten Van Acker. Het stedelijk metabolisme van Antwerpen. AGORA Magazine. 2018; 34 (4):8-11.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jolein Bergers; Maarten Van Acker. 2018. "Het stedelijk metabolisme van Antwerpen." AGORA Magazine 34, no. 4: 8-11.

Articles
Published: 02 September 2018 in Interiors
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In his reflection on the Inside the City interior educators conference (London, November, 2018), Andrew Stone acknowledged the growing confidence of interior designers in engaging with the city, which poses a natural conduit for the discipline’s inherent interdisciplinarity. Within this provocation, a central position is taken up by the concept of urban interiority. Breaking out of the confines of domestic and private interior space, urban interiority transposes the mobile notion of interiority into an urban context. This expansive understanding holds the potential to blur the boundaries between interior and urban design disciplines, and foster innovative thinking that goes beyond the fixed dualities of public-private or interior–exterior. Furthermore, this article approaches urban interiority as a spatial condition going beyond the classical understanding of interiority as the subjective feelings of our inner life. Hence, we construct a set of lenses as ways of seeing the spatial configurations of interiority in an urban setting: Time (Ephemerality-Adaptation), Movement (Bodies in Space-Accessibility), Transition (Boundary-Permeability). Using the arcades of Brussels as a test situation, the lenses framework offers a non-deterministic analyzing method by proposing different readings of the historical and analytical data collected through research on the material culture of the arcades, and spatial analysis of the sites through personal observations and cartographic layering. The knowledge gained through the implementation of these set of lenses will be a foundation for design principles which address the configuration of fundamental elements of interior public space.

ACS Style

Tine Poot; Els De Vos; Maarten Van Acker. Thinking beyond dualities in public space: the unfolding of urban interiority as a set of interdisciplinary lenses. Interiors 2018, 9, 324 -345.

AMA Style

Tine Poot, Els De Vos, Maarten Van Acker. Thinking beyond dualities in public space: the unfolding of urban interiority as a set of interdisciplinary lenses. Interiors. 2018; 9 (3):324-345.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tine Poot; Els De Vos; Maarten Van Acker. 2018. "Thinking beyond dualities in public space: the unfolding of urban interiority as a set of interdisciplinary lenses." Interiors 9, no. 3: 324-345.

Journal article
Published: 03 April 2017 in Smart and Sustainable Built Environment
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Purpose As policy makers address the issue of climate adaptation, they are confronted with climate-specific barriers: a long-term horizon and a high degree of uncertainty. These barriers also hamper the development of spatial planning for climate adaptation. So how can spatial planners encompass these barriers and steer the general debate on climate adaptation? The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This research analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of an international design workshop on climate adaptation, and drought issues in particular. Design workshops are originally an educational setting but they are increasingly employed as a tool to explore alternative futures on a complex, real-life design problem. The case study illustrates how climate-specific barriers emerged throughout the design workshop and clarifies how they were encompassed by the participating design students. Findings The research clarifies the added value of a design workshop on climate adaptation. The paper highlights specific promising characteristics of the design workshop: the visualization of future adaptation challenges and the current water system, the focus on a regional project instead of sectoral adjustments and the integration of the adaptation challenge with other socio-economic goals. In the case study Flanders, however, the necessary participation of climate experts and policy makers of other domains proved challenging. Originality/value The paper argues that a design workshop has the potential to enrich the debate and policy work on climate adaptation. In many countries with low-planning tradition, however, additional tools are needed to help set the “adaptation agenda.”

ACS Style

Jeroen De Waegemaeker; Eva Kerselaers; Maarten Van Acker; Elke Rogge. Design workshops in the age of climate change. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment 2017, 6, 48 -63.

AMA Style

Jeroen De Waegemaeker, Eva Kerselaers, Maarten Van Acker, Elke Rogge. Design workshops in the age of climate change. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment. 2017; 6 (1):48-63.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jeroen De Waegemaeker; Eva Kerselaers; Maarten Van Acker; Elke Rogge. 2017. "Design workshops in the age of climate change." Smart and Sustainable Built Environment 6, no. 1: 48-63.

Journal article
Published: 01 September 2016 in Journal of Landscape Architecture
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As global warming persists, regions with moderate climatic conditions will be confronted with exacerbating seasonal variations, including aggravating dry periods. This upcoming drought challenge receives, however, little attention from policymakers. Likewise, Flemish planners and designers focus on floods, not droughts. This research concentrates on design strategies that deal with a lack of water in highly urbanized territories such as Flanders. The article analyses the results of a design workshop on (future) drought issues in the Campine region: ‘Shifting Climate, Reshaping Urban Landscapes’. Four distinct strategies are delineated: ‘remodelling the valleys’, ‘retrofitting urbanization’, ‘aqueducts 2.0’, and ‘autonomous, local water networks’. The article discusses the premise of each strategy and its approach to the local landscape and urban tissue. Moreover, it highlights key issues to drought design in highly urbanized territories.

ACS Style

Jeroen De Waegemaeker; Maarten Van Acker; Eva Kerselaers; Elke Rogge. Shifting climate, reshaping urban landscapes: Designing for drought in the Campine landscape. Journal of Landscape Architecture 2016, 11, 72 -83.

AMA Style

Jeroen De Waegemaeker, Maarten Van Acker, Eva Kerselaers, Elke Rogge. Shifting climate, reshaping urban landscapes: Designing for drought in the Campine landscape. Journal of Landscape Architecture. 2016; 11 (3):72-83.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jeroen De Waegemaeker; Maarten Van Acker; Eva Kerselaers; Elke Rogge. 2016. "Shifting climate, reshaping urban landscapes: Designing for drought in the Campine landscape." Journal of Landscape Architecture 11, no. 3: 72-83.

Journal article
Published: 01 May 2015 in AGORA Magazine
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ACS Style

Maarten Van Acker. De vele levens van infrastructuur. AGORA Magazine 2015, 31, 7 -10.

AMA Style

Maarten Van Acker. De vele levens van infrastructuur. AGORA Magazine. 2015; 31 (2):7-10.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maarten Van Acker. 2015. "De vele levens van infrastructuur." AGORA Magazine 31, no. 2: 7-10.