How can an old, 75 km long infrastructure become the catalyst for the sustainable transformation of a region? How to make the shift from fragmented stakeholders to a constructive network based on new coalitions? What is the added value for municipalities when thinking outside the box, beyond their own perimeter? And what innovative tools do we need to enable these new coalitions to actively engage in a high quality territorial development?

With the project Testing the Coal Track (on show at IABR–2016) Ruimte Vlaanderen in collaboration with Architectuurwijzer and Z33 aims to capture and document the complexity of regional development in Central Limburg, Belgium. In this narrative the former Coal Track reveals itself as a territorial project, a project of projects, in which shared profits can originate. Designers Freek Persyn (51N4E), Ward Verbakel (plusoffice architects) and Julie Marin (OSA KULeuven) will present their research and future perspectives on the Coal Track. After the presentations they will go in debate with policy makers to explore what's next: which specific steps can be taken both in terms of short and long term results.

Workshop: by invitation only