architecture of displacement

Architecture of displacment 1

|H02S1a| Urban Studies: Research Methodology ,Assignmnet paper. Katholiek Universiteit Leuven ,Jan 2011

Abstract

This paper is an effort to employ the theories and rhetoric of displacement both as its prevalent spatial aspect and the metaphoric concept in order to analyze the impact gentrification on the Northern Antwerp neighborhood . In the first chapter the essay takes Loopmans challenge of gentrification and adopts Slater and Atkinson definition of displacement in order to substantially reveal how gentrification as a core element of hegemonic predominant of current Antwerpen urban regime can reinforce/foster the condition of Physical displacement in the De Koninckplein square. In the second part it employs metaphorical aspect of displacements as described by Heynen and Loeckx to critically question these policies through events and architectural projects realized and intertwined by the city administration and its actor(s). This will be tackled through examination of multiple disciplines and theories such as Urban regime theory, Gentrification and displacement theories which underpin both quantitative and qualitative understandings of displacement within the gentrification literature.

Introduction : Displacement in critical debates of Gentrification

In recent literature ,the current interest of the current European urban regimes to-wards illuminating the cities within the international scale has been abundantly revealed(Christiaens,2003, Christiaens et al ,2007, Moulaert et al ,2007,..).Many urban regeneration policies and regulation has steered toward fulfilling this inten-tion. Realization of large-scale projects, implementing emblematic Architectural buildings and Gentrification of lower-class residential neighborhood has been set on the agenda of the most public administrations.(Moulaert et al ,2007).In Antwerp(Belgium) with dominance of the extreme right party (Vlaams Blok) these effort has been vividly reflected in the urban regulations and policies mostly applied by VESPA(Vast goed En Stadsontwikkelings bedrijf Antwerpen) . (Chris-tiaens et al ,2007; Loopmans, 2008). Gentrification as the first priority on the agenda has been progressively followed by substitution of low income/migrant residents with white middle class Belgian under the umbrella of ‘Attracting better residents to the city’ , ‘increasing livability’(Loopmans,2008) and providing ‘Safety’. The ‘successful’ experi-ence of Antwerpen Zuid has been re-prescribed for the Antwerpen Nord district were the majority of the residents are from low -income immigrants and white working class. The

Architecture of Displacement Critical thoughts on Gentrification policies i.c. De Koninckplein,Antwerp

Patrick Lootens , Payam Tabrizian |H02S1a| Urban Studies: Research Methodology final Assignmnet Supervised by Professors Frank Moulaert , Bruno Demeulder Katholiek Universiteit Leuven ,Jan 2011



integration of Gentrification as a policy in the VESPA agenda in one hand and the Quest of profitable opportunity by private investors on the other is effectively transforming the spatial and social configuration of the deprived neighborhood.This as a great concern has provoked many researchers and scholars to historically and analytically render the logics behind this shift in urban policies hoping to generate new alternative social inno-vative Ideas and to elaborate a framework for counter hegemonic ideologies to emerge. (Christiaens et al, 2007).Maarten Loopmans in his essay about gentrification policies in Antwerp stresses on the necessity of proper understanding of the ‘negative social externalities ‘and ‘inequalities’ caused by gentrification policies in order to develop a viable alternative for urban renewal strategy. Displacement as one such dramatic consequences of gentrification has been always a theme within the critical gentrification debates . As Marcuse stated :Displacement from home and neighborhood can be a shattering experience. At worst it leads to homelessness, at best it impairs a sense of community. Public policy should, by general agreement, minimize displacement. Yet a variety of public policies, particularly those concerned with gentrification, seem to foster it (Marcuse, 1985a: 931).The paper argues that displacement is vital to a coherent understanding of such impacts and providing a critical perspective on the gentrification process. Within the current de-bates on gentrification Displacement has been addressed in utilized in two different ways :a)Quantitative (physical): Which statistically calculates/counts measures the impact gen-trification on displaced /subject to displacement residents.b)Qualitative(metaphorical) : Which studies the socio–cultural impacts of gentrification on the interaction between people and their built environment.The paper takes both aspects of displacement and employ it as a lens to see through the policies and spatial interventions realized by the City and VESPA . This will be tested on De Koninckplein square based on the research ,observations and local interviews.

Patterns of Physical Displacement in De Koninckplein

The First and the most prevailing definition of displacement refers to physical migration of a social group to an alien context. This as a term later has been expanded and em-bodied gentrification where it has been described as ‘neighborhoods change such that inflated rents and prices push out the low paid or the unpaid.’(Atkinson 1998) .In other language physical Displacement can be defined whereby households have their housing choices constrained by the actions of another social group. As Marcuse put: “gentrifi-cation is as inherently linked with the displacement of lower-income households as it is abandonment’ (Marcuse, 1985: 934).”

At the center of the north Antwerp neighborhood ,‘De Koninckplein’ square is situated at the meeting point of three ethnic streets and hosting hundreds of migrants and lower class Belgian residents every day. The tram stop situated in front of the north –southern edge of the square multiplies the number of local passengers. As on the most controver-sial locations in the Antwerpen Noord, De Koninckplein has been experiencing dramatic transformation in its spatial,social and configuration in the current decade. Considerable level of spatial intervention such as implementation of the Permeke library and construc-tion/renovation of residential apartments aligned with the policy of ‘Attracting higher in-come middle class ‘ is putting tremendous strain on the availability of affordable housing. The iconic manifestation of the architecture and the huge advertising panels branded with the logo of ‘A’ and ‘VESPA’ in front the under construction apartments warmly invites the new wave of middle class to the neighborhood (fig1). The ground floor has been foreseen for ‘New’ ‘Better’ commercial activities hoping to replace the night shops and ethnic café’s .



On the northern side of the square three buildings are recently renovated ,six has been announced to sell which three of them has been completely evacuated.(fig 2).According to the interview held with two real state agencies, the renting prices is subject to raise after construction of the apartments and completely clearing the square from illegal ac-tivities which inevitably will price out the existing tenants in a near future.One of the other symptoms of the gentrification emergence in the square is the newly built modern building occupied by an artist and two architects(fig3). Composition of the library and the under-construction VESPA residential project claiming a complete edge and the emergence of the new Artistic businesses on the other side of the square, prom-ises a completely different appearance of the place in an early future. These accompa-nied by the future ’higher level’ commercial activities is putting an immense pressure for the local shopkeepers to survive in the given condition .(Fig 4)Although highlighting and framing the gentrification as an on-going process is possible through observation but measuring the accurate extent of displacement as the product of such intentions seems to be facing considerable challenges . In regard to the interest of our quantitative analysis on displacement the main concerns remained enclosed:.How many people has been priced out and replaced as a result of gentrification? .How many people are subject to leave the neighborhood? The first challenge was measuring the extent of displacement due to inaccessibility and invisibility of the displaced residents, which were priced out or displaced. Empty apart-ments , the bulldozed and cleared plots ,The Vespa’s under construction buildings and the on-sale announcement attached to many apartments , all testified a considerable number of people displaced or subject to displacement but there were no one trace of these people to interview !!Consulting relevant literature surrounding displacement and gentrification, the same concern could be easily observed. Atkinson (2006) brings up this issue of invisibility of displacees who are no longer to around to be counted. Newman and Wiley refer to the same observation as Atkins by stating: “It is difficult to find people who have been displaced, particularly if these people are poor. By definition, displaced residents have disappeared from the very places where researchers and census takers go to look for them” (Atkinkson,1998:3)However, Atkinson puts forth four methods for measuring the impact of displacement on a specific neighborhood: a) Economic/Physical, b) Last resident, c) Chain d) Exclusion-ary.

[fig1] “The project has a commercial groundfloor of approximately 200m ². The upperfloors are filled with one or two apartments per level. The fourth and top floorpenthouse with a rooftop terrace includes a focus on the square. Thus, a total of 6apartments realized which vary greatly in size (60m ² to 130m ²).”(Avg Vespa official website)



Among these methods the first method seems to be the most practical in a sense that it estimates the number of people/household, which are priced out or already subject to displacement. On the other hand, due to seamless and gradual nature of gentrification ,displacement as a problem has never been consciously viewed by the residents and locals.Almost none of the interviewed residents and shopkeepers were aware of their vulnerability for getting priced out as a result of ongoing intervention in the square or in few cases they linked the renting prices growth to the European crisis and seasonal economic fluctua-tions. Another problem that we encountered during the investigation about the displacement in relation to the effects of gentrification was its purely political or economical theoretical framework. Numbering the displaced is not promising to completely comprehend the ‘negative social externalities ‘and ‘inequalities’ addressed by Loopmans .The current residents of the area are not only leaving their dwelling that they inhabited for a noticeable amount of time, But they are leaving their friends ,Their favorite stores and their community life .As Atkinson put :

This is unfortunate when we consider when we consider the costs to the displaced, and may reflect that debate is often a political rather than academic nature. While other problems, Like homelessness, may appear important, we should not forget the linkages between Gentrification, Displacement and homelessness. Atkinson (1998:5)

These challenges provoked us to question displacement beyond its purely quantitative framework and explore its qualitative aspect. In other language , we examined displace-ment as a theory which can critically study gentrification both in ‘addressing the urban regimes and their relation to social and economical aspects of their initiations’ and ‘phe-nomenology and associated critical understandings of place/placeness ‘ .

[fig 2] [fig 3]



[fig 4]

Metaphoric Displacement

Arriving Atwerpen Central station on Tuesday fourth of Janurary an announcement ab-sorbed our attention. A billboard installed in front of the central station entry announcing a comic strip exhibition being held at De koninkplein (fig4). Two questions immediately raised at the first glance: “ Why the Comic strip exhibition as a purely Belgian traditional hobby has to be placed in the heart of a multi ethnic neighborhood? “ “How does this as a cultural event correspond to the gentrification policy of the city?”

As revealed earlier, recent gentrification literature in general and specific debates around North Antwerpen Neighborhood is accompanied by a concern about the extent of physi-cal displacement occurring within gentrifying neighborhoods and the associated politics of method bound up in the empirics. In other language Displacement as a discourse has been purely understood as spatial dislocation.This in one hand marks an (abstract) read-ing of displacement as spatial process and trivializes the power of displacement theory in positioning the current spatial attempts on the other hand. In other language, it is impossible to conclude with displacement purely from the tracking movement of people between locations (e.g. McKinnish et al., 2008). As mark davison states People can be displaced unable to (re) construct place without spatial dislocation or in contrary people can be spatially dislocated without losing place if they did not engage in every day prac-tices defining that place before (Davidson,2009).By employing Heynen and Loex categorization of displacement and respecting Lefeb-vre’s understanding of space, we could ‘construct’ displacement in a way that avoids the abstraction of displacement-as-out-migration and instead emphasizes the lived experi-ence of space. This as a lens assisted us to analyze our case from a different perspec-tive.

“a general failure to understand lived space in its entire dimensions in recentgentrification scholarship represents a particularly significant problem for criticalcommentary.” (Davidson,2009:229)

Heynen and Loex described displacement as confrontation of an alien element to the a ‘more or less stable context. This as a shift alters different socio-cultural value systems and eventually opens up gaps where “Conventional wisdom gives no clue about how to react in given situation.” (Heynen et al ,1998:101) .The Comic strip exhibition project is a perfect emblem of such dramatic transformation



in meanings and values where a Belgian traditional intrest manifests itself a multi ethnic neighborhood and immensely alters the meaning of the public space where place-mak-ing has been practiced in every-day life for years.The Semantic gaps coined by Heynen and Loex clearly explains such condition “where a meaning of a particular phenomenon is no longer legible.” (Heynen et al ,1998:101) . Going deeper into the debate about such voids as the consequence of displacement helped us to comprehend how ‘place-making activities are altered, commodified and/or destroyed by the gentrification process’ .This can be easily traced in De koninck plein most everyday practices of people both as individual and collective have been immensely altered by the spatial and stra-tegical modifications of the city behind the label of ‘clearing the drug dealing and prostitution‘,’attracting honest business’ , ‘changing the atmosphere of deterioration‘ and ‘Promoting the livability’. It is not surprising then to see the local newspaper with in the title of ‘verbod op samenscholing in the maak ‘ celebrates the safety and cleaning regula-tion on the cover page stating : “… not more than two people are allowed to gather on the square or the police will arrest you and can keep you in jail for 24 hours”.(Berchem newspaper, 14 nov 2010:cover)It is interesting to notice that emergence of such gaps as a concern has been expressed in an artistic practice in the middle of the square. An installation of several balloons each rendering a former resident or drug addict as snapshots of different moments of the square (fig). Although a positive effort to revive the collective memory of the place, the installation reveals dramatic evacuation of specific signifiers corresponding to single mo-ments the every-day life of the neighborhood. “Semiotic gaps emerge when displacement results in a lack of signifiers carrying a particular meaning.”(Heynen et al ,1998:101).Digging deeper in the metaphoric displacement literature we could eventually elaborate the analysis in a way to specifically address the impact of architecture in the given condi-tion on displaced people .In the following part the paper puts ‘Architecture’ in the center of discussion and tries to see how different actors from architects to VESPA have a role in creating the condition of displacement and to what extent addressing them would critically point out the social impact of gentrification.

[fig 5]



Architecture matters.

The theoretical reflections on metaphoric displacement do reveal its impact on the inter-action between people and their built environment. We agree with Heynen and Loeckx that architecture is primarily a framework for daily life. They value the importance of the mundane reality and state that highbrow architectural features may be interesting but socially irrelevant an sterile.Furthermore is assumed that apart from its disruptive and destructive impact, displace-ment functions as an important and productive instigator of cultural change.This assumptions lies at the hart of the case we are investigating on.

The signifiers the new projects induce are read differently by autochtonous and al-lochtonous people living in the neighbourhood. In a way the new projects might be irrel-evant for allochtonous people as they do not “recognize” or do not interact with them in the metaphorical sense as the signs are not coming out of their own culture.For the autochtonous population on the contrary they might be recognizable as a west-ern image of a transforming modernity.

Depending on the process, on the intentions and ambitions of the creators and commis-sioners of the new architectural projects one could say architecture is vis-à-vis conditions of displacement as Heynen and Loeckx present it, either a receptacle, as a medium that represents social and cultural change, either an instrument playing an active role as instigator of cultural change. So either change as a consequence, either change as an intention!! As for the third category they use, architecture as staging, creating a theatrical space of negotiation, is in our opinion less applicable to our case as there is no such negotiation as the projects are “imposed” top-downwards.

In this sense, in relation to the gentrification “act” of inducing “design” projects the mi-grant population does not attribute any signification to, it works very well. If this is in-tentional, and thus obeying to the second category, architecture as an instrument, it is possibly a way of “imposing a generalized otherness” in order to influence on behavior (displacement) of part of the unwanted population. The comic-strip exposition is another way by which this otherness is introduced.

Physicality of the DCP-case Now, what do we see? How do we nowadays experience the physicality of the neigh-bourhood? Trying to read what has been done and what is going on, is a small step towards the analysis-based and reality-anchored alternative view to provide an alterna-tive to the actual hegemonic urban policy in Antwerp, which will be addressed in the last chapter of this paper.

DCP-plein

The Permeke Library attracts our main attention. Furthermore relatively small VESPA development projects are being built at the moment on two out of nine corners aside the intersecting streets. Another corner is un-built and waits for a project. The rest of the facades are mainly renovated. On the north-side two particular projects ask for our at-tention.The public domain is renewed in a sober but refined way, doing its job and not scream-ing for attention. The urban furniture is solid and sustainable, benches, public lighting,



a small but efficient canopy for the tram-stop. The place has received a basket-ball infrastructure.One week before Christmas temporary stands are erected for the Christmas-market, lightened up by an interesting arty balloon installation. (Fig5)

One can say that the physicality of the DCP-plein has been achieved successfully …seen through the eyes of a middle-class urbanite and apparently even by people of a lesser social status. The physical cleaning of the public place is likely to be appreciated by most of its inhabitants.The social change that these transformations engendered –at least the ones intended by the authorities- was only partially successful. Indeed there is a timid increase of autoch-thonous inhabitants one can detect by seeing some of the shops and commercial activi-ties improved and run by them. The library attracts a lot of local people but seemingly mostly middle-class whites. The eradication of drug-related population on the contrary did not fully succeed. Though the police surveillance and actions help to control the situ-ation

The neighbouring streets (i.e. Handelsstraat)

The urban renewal of the neighbouring streets consists in the renewal of the street-infrastructure. Apart from two main apartment developments the rest of the urban fabric remained as it was, alternating between reasonable care and neglect.The social stratus of the commercial street is one of an overwhelming multiplicity of eth-nic urbanites. The food-shops, the bakeries, the humble restaurants, the phone-shops, places for religious gatherings of all kinds, betting shops, cafés etc. all very colourful, poor and seemingly peacefully juxtaposed within a tolerant mix but without real integra-tion. The younger white people seem to be tolerant newcomers pushing them into this neighbourhood for gentrification at another level and elsewhere in the city has forced them to do so. Often they are the ones that induce renewal of the built fabric organising their houses and sometimes their small service-oriented businesses. The older white people are mainly the ones who couldn’t afford to “escape” and possibly remained dis-content.

The projects

The DCP-plein shows us four types of architectural interventions. Analysing their par-ticularities can give us some insight in understanding how they were implemented and how they relate to the neighbourhood.

The Permeke-library is a public building and the flagship project of the neighbourhood’s urban renewal. Nothing wrong is to say about the idea of turning into a public building the decayed Permeke site itself. Implementing a library as a function is possibly disputable, but not here. The elaboration of the project especially in its physical relation to the place itself, is open to critique(fig6).The mere idea of having a café/restaurant at the entrance could possibly be defended as within the local culture the café fulfils a privileged role in social interaction. Even though its materialisation does not underline this programmatic intention. The green reflecting spider- glazed façade rejects the passer-by into the street and increases the distance between the generally informal architecture of the place and project itself. Furthermore the adjacent brick volumes are quite closed boxes leaving no insight in the interior activities whatsoever.The entrance of the library itself is to be found behind these rather opaque volumes.The space of the library itself on the contrary is a pleasant experience.



The Vespa-apartments :

The five story brick building proposes apartments with generous bay-windows and ter-races. The setback of the façade by cantilevering the cladding gives depth and articu-lation. The proportions and rhythm though do not match at any level with the overall scenery of the place. The carving out of the openings into the brickwork are efficient but quite recognisable as a form coming out of the toolbox of young architects in search of ……themselves. The second project is an hybrid one. On the one hand it presents a no nonsense ar-chitecture just wanting to disappear into the banal environment. The other part on the contrary shows us a striking audacity in the materialisation of the façade : Every storey is marked by a different horizontally elaborated metal cladding. Very fancy indeed!(Fig 7) At the DCP-plein there are two small projects of another kind, both at the northern side of the place. The first is not much more than a soft renovation of an existing 19th century bel-étage house, painted in an elegant dark grey, showing its commercial activity through a large window with pleasant signing and a modestly remoulded attic on top of it. The second shows an intriguing double glazed façade with mondrianesque divisions in a fancy sixties-like approach. Very fancy indeed!(fig7)

But contrary to the metal cladded Vespa-project this one seems to induce in a gentle way, without screaming, a cultural expression of its own kind without overwhelming or overruling, any neighbouring artefact. It seems to be able to join the humble nearby store of the local (mostly ethnic) grocery store.

[fig 6]

[fig 7]



In what follows the paper takes into account elements of policy and agencies with re-spect to the DCP-neighbourhood as a case. It tries to position itself in the on-going discussion around the new hegemony on Urban Policies in Antwerp on the one hand and the search for new social innovation-modes in order to propose a modest step towards an alternative hegemony as coined by Loop-mans and looking for a “third way” (conclusion part of the paper).

Can architecture save the neighbourhood?

Turning apartment buildings into interesting architecture is often an hazardous under-taking. The low budget, an unknown future inhabitant, impose the architects too often to propose mainstream, average, and by the large public known typologies and plans. Generally speaking one can say that the proposed Vespa-projects respond to a higher qualitative standard than most of the neighbouring social housing projects. The latter only recently increase the attention to qualitative architecture for their projects by intro-ducing and managing architectural competitions. Vespa’s strategy is slightly different. In order to work in a more efficient way than the mere public corporations, they made a selection of architects forming a pool out of which Vespa can choose the architect for their project directly or through a small competition. This pool is renewed every four years.This system is at once a means of giving chances to a selection of younger architects, leaving out the others though!It’s a system. Ok. But what happens once the architect is chosen? What briefing is given? How does the project definition gives way to a real qualitative project?These questions will be asked in an interview –next stage of elaboration of the paper-with Steven Decloedt of Vespa, responsible for the development of urban renewal projects.We are curious to know how the initiator of these projects defines the relation between the projects and the neighbourhood? If there is any reflection on the morphology and architectural expression of the projects taking into account the specific nature of the neighbourhood, its ethnic mixture, its colourful livelihood, the popular connotations….

Without talking to them we can only react on what we can see. Our impression is that the architects involved are undoubtedly skilful in managing the architectural project itself. But it’s hard not getting suspicious about them addressing their own agenda by introducing quite bold features into their projects in order to draw attention at a moment and place where in our opinion it is not justifiable enough.This attitude can be read as part of a larger phenomenon into the architectural discipline where competition between practitioners is getting tougher and the success becomes more dependent on publications in architectural magazines, and of architectural institu-tions. In line with the general tendency of authority control on all issues of urban devel-opment – in the hegemonic urban policy sense- the “Stadsbouwmeester” and his team are increasingly taking this attitude for granted and reinforce it in the name of “qualitative architecture”.But what kind of architecture deserves this label? Quality seen through the eyes of whom? A small elite? A privileged section of architects and designers frequenting the “salons” of the established and often self-declared architectural elite? Is there enough understanding of the contextual features? It is doubtful.

Within the Urban Policy of the moment, with a large and regained centralised vision on urban development by the local authorities, letting somehow orphaned the socially embedded bottom-up oriented neighbourhood initiatives, the implementation of projects –project-based development- is now preponderantly steered by VESPA (independent municipal company) together with the strategic cell from the city administration.



VESPA has celebrated this year its fifth anniversary. This event gave birth to the pub-lication of a booklet entitled “Leven in ‘t Stad” (Living in The City)- five years of urban projects in Antwerp. The format gives way to interviews of all kinds of actors relative to these urban projects. The lack of critical reflections, surprisingly even less by architects, on behalf of VESPA’s achievements –which are indeed considerable, tangible and visible and with a recognised hang towards qualitative development- makes us a bit suspicious and cautious.One can reasonably say that VESPA fulfils its role within the boundaries of its by the local authorities defined mission statement with excellence. Being at the top of the so-called sling-movement on urban policy as addressed by Moulaert wherein top-down approach and market-geared urban development strategies have taken over again, VESPA’s suc-cess needs to be critically observed. Whether or not written in the mission statement of the municipal company, main attention towards security and the attraction of (white) middle class people into the city are implicitly at stake. The negative effects of the gen-trification this policy induces are to be investigated.

The nature of the projects implemented, their character, morphology, the signifiers they induce are worth to look at in order to understand why an obvious and sudden feeling of alienation occurs making hard to understand the even though –at least supposedly- well intended new urban projects while walking into the neighbourhood itself. If gentrification has a face, one can look at it at the DCP-plein. Who is responsible?The local authorities, Vespa, the urbanists, the architects, the electorate, the police, the drug-addicts, the migrants population, the wave of neo-liberalism, the socio-economic context….? Of course the answer will be a bit of it all. But, within the confinement of this paper, can we take a closer look to what role architecture plays or does not play into the gentrification process and how one can reflect on the discipline by positioning architec-ture as a (partial) tool for qualitative local urban development? Should architecture and the architects remain the critiqueless slave of an imposed top-down approach on urban policy, or can architecture help to construct a language of inser-tion, immersion, a multi-layered and harmonious society? What recommendations can be looked for at the level of program and project definition, the initiators of any project to be newly implemented?What can be added to the mission statement of i.e. Vespa if a more socially embedded urban development is to be created? Can architecture or better can the way architecture is implemented as a project with a broad consensus between different neighbourhood actors, bridge the gap between the actual top-down imposition of project-based urban development and a new way belong-ing to the stated social innovation initiatives?

A third way?

At the risk of “a third way” being an already worn out concept, let us though imagine a way of breaking through the sling- movement Moulaert addresses concerning the issues of policy. Is it necessarily either a hegemonic attitude of a top-down urban policy or a policy putting social innovation at the hart of her attention? Within the field that has been addressed above (architecture – displacement) it can be generative for a modest move towards an and/and approach by reconfiguring the way the architectural projects are managed by VESPA with respect to the content, let us say the project definition. This project definition can be more than explaining the program and the application of some general ideas of (architectural) “integration” in the neigh-bourhood. Delicate social matters, the possible social impact of gentrification, discus-



sions of cultural identity and displacement should be addressed widely. In the evaluation of the projects a more in-depth discussion about signifiers can help them to improve. The platform available in which this discussion is possibly made is at first not very wide : the responsible professional of the commissioner, the city agencies and the architects in charge of the projects. In a small and easy step further socially involved representatives of the neighbourhood should be added to the discussion. From there on a larger plat-form can be created towards a larger participation. This participation processes needs to be modulated and designed for this particular kind of issues and sites. It at the least needs to be able to transcend the actual Potemkin-participation in which the neighbour-hood is informed after the insiders have already decided.

Of course the positive results will depend on the actors themselves. At first VESPA itself will have to investigate whether this way of operating does not interfere with its mission statement. As it is politically controlled by the City government the politics will have to be clear about their intentions. The safety issue is remaining at the top of its concern. Ok, but what about the real gentrification agenda? Should the neighbourhood become another Antwerp South for white middle class people or is the multicultural neighbour-hood at stake? The way VESPA is steered and in itself steering their projects concerning the social issues of the neighbourhood they interfere in will have to be more precisely defined if the above proposed way of addressing architectural projects would be applied. Furthermore the commissioner of the projects Vespa, but through them the City govern-ment itself will have to take a clear stand, through which a democratic discussion can openly be started.

The architects from their side need to be involved but also informed. To be honest I’m not sure every architect is familiar enough with issues such as displacement, cultural integration and even the signifiers they deliberately or not induce through their projects.As the examples around the DCP place show, the way architects react towards the neighbourhood can be very different. Some induce in a more intuitive way signifiers more in line with the neighbourhood. Some don’t.

At this point the next and obvious question is what kind of signifiers are those? There is to our opinion no one stakeholder or agency who can claim to know? Rather a wider dis-cussion with different actors can induce a way of understanding. This enlarged knowl-edge is then translated into a physical and spatial artefact by the architect.



References

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Heynen , H (1998). Patterns of Displacement , Journal of Architectural EducationVolume 52, Issue 1, page 2,September 1998

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Physical Displacement Questionaire

1) How long have you lived in this Area( De Koninckplein or handel straat)

a) less than 1 yearb) 1-2 yearsc) 3-5 yearsd) 5-9 yearse) More than 10 years

2) Why did you choose to live in This area when you first moved here:a) large Moroccan community including stores and services where business isconducted in Arabic b) presence of friends and family (social networks)c) affordable rentse) other, please specify: _

3) What is your current occupation?

4) How old are you:a) 18-24b) 25-34c) 35-44d) 45-54e) 55-64f) 65+

5) What is your annual gross income:a) less than €10,000b) €10,000 - €14,99990------------------------------- -

c) €15,000 - €19,999d) €20,000 -€24,999e) €25,000 - €29,999f) €30,000 - €34,999g) €35,000 and more

6) What is your monthly rent at your place of residence:a) less than €200b) €300 - €399c) €400 - €599d) €600 - €799e) €800 - €999f) €1,000 and more

7) How much of your monthly salary is devoted to rent:a) less than 10 percentb) 10 - 19 percentc) 20 - 29 percent



d) 30 - 39 percente) 40 - 49 percentf) 50 percent and more

8) Is the building you live in rent stabilized or rent regulated? (check one)Yes No9) Do you live with:a) familyb) roommatesc) other, please specify: _

10) How many people share the apartment with you?

11) What do you most enjoy about living in De Koninckplein? Name three aspects:a)91b)c)

12) Has your building been rent control deregulated?Yes No__ I don’tknow__13) Did your financial situation, due to rent increases force you to take in a roommate?Yes No__14) Do you feel that you will have to move in the near future?Yes No__15) What do you think about the increasing presence of Belgian bussiness in thearea?

Many thanks for your help with my research. I really appreciate yourparticipation.



A (not so) strange encounter

The feeling of alienation that occurred to us by contemplating some of the architectural achievements at the DCP-plein and its neighbourhood was at first an intuitive reaction. One can “feel” what is the underlying forces engendering this kind of environment. And coming onto the public place with our by far too large camera, aiming at investigating on paradigms of urbanism and architecture in relation to gentrification, four former drug-addicts came to us proudly explaining who the guy projected on one of the balloons was. Without remembering his name we understood he was one of the “hotshots” of the neighbourhood.As Sidney started to tell his story, coming from the adjacent neighbourhood (Seefhoek), being addicted from his fifteenth, put in jail for eight years, and living now a more or less normal life in Turnhout, the relevance of our architectural issues faded somehow away. The distance between the social reality of poorer people, drug-addicted or not, and the intellectuality of students as we are was striking. A parallel to this feeling of distance can be found in the approach of many top-down ac-tions and policies. We were right in the middle of it.But even stronger a feeling when we understood that Sidney educated himself in jail, talked on different issues better and sharper than any young by definition inexperienced student would do. As former convict he is supposed to reinsert into society as social theories indicate. But his past curriculum doesn’t allow him to find any job. As a consequence he became a volunteer for helping youngsters who are at the verge of a career as addicts.Sidney became to us, as a metaphor, the symbol of integrating successfully any social innovation attitude as a counter-hegemonic gesture as counterpart to the actual hege-monic urban policy in the city.

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