NLENFR

Garden Streets Antwerp - Lange Ridderstraat

Garden Streets Antwerp is part of a broad vision to turn the city into a climate-resilient, high-quality environment. The garden street also promotes social interaction in the street. After an initial phase of pilot projects, the city is elevating its ambitions to the permanent green-blue transformation of streets in five Antwerp districts.

Lange Ridderstraat is one of the streets that will be permanently organised as a garden street following a successful test period. In consultation with the residents, the existing hard surface was replaced with planting beds, trees, herb and vegetable gardens, small lawns, and climbing plants, etc. Special attention was devoted to ensuring a coordinated approach to rainwater collection with regard to the surface and the substrate.

In the project approach, Antwerp’s ambition is to experiment with the application of new techniques, co-creation with residents and handling maintenance after construction. The pilot projects initially served as a testing ground for optimising the various aspects of the garden street and for creating a sustainable support base among residents. The transformation of Lange Ridderstraat serves as the starting shot so the garden street can be applied extensively throughout the city in the future.

theme
management, biodiversity, housing, mobility, water
innovative aspects
good citizenship, policy innovation, cultural change
scale
street, district


slideshow
From trial set-up to permanent installation
During the preliminary project for Lange Ridderstraat, experiments were carried out with the new layout of the street and its management. In 2021, this resulted in a climate-resilient street tailored to the needs of its residents.

Neighbourhood signs up for garden streets in Old Berchem
videoNeighbourhood signs up for garden streets in Old Berchem
The city of Antwerp is experimenting with temporary garden streets at various locations. In Berchem, a number of streets have been tackled, including Berthoutstraat. Together with the residents of the streets, they are considering what form the garden streets could take.


Neighbourhood signs up for garden streets in Old Berchem

The city of Antwerp is experimenting with temporary garden streets at various locations. In Berchem, a number of streets have been tackled, including Berthoutstraat. Together with the residents of the streets, they are considering what form the garden streets could take.



photo: Berchem TV, Antwerpen 2016

Lange Riddersstraat becomes a garden street
articleLange Riddersstraat becomes a garden street
In 2020 and 2021, Lange Riddersstraat will be transformed into a garden street. The process will take place in several phases, from a first information moment to an experimentation phase and a final design. Neighbourhood residents are involved in the process at different times and in different ways, so that the garden street becomes not only a climate-resilient place in the city, but also a social meeting place.


Lange Riddersstraat becomes a garden street


photo: Stad Antwerpen, Antwerpen