The recovery of cycling mobility as a major mobility agent requires the claim for open spaces that operate as urban and regional connections for cyclists. Nevertheless, adapting an infrastructural margin to biking so that it fits with comfort and safety standards has been a challenge in order not to replicate a parallel corridor that reinforces the barrier effect created by those concrete lanes. The Belle Vue Park, attached to the eastern side of the Leuven railway station, shows an alternative design in order to tackle cycling mobility without replicating an edge.
The rearrangement of Martelarenlaan into three different spaces enables a reinterpretation of the relation between its facade and the rail margin. By restricting the car access to parking on the residential side and concentrating car mobility close to the railroads, a more comprehensive open space structure is developed. By these means, the street is transformed into a fietsstraat, so that cyclist have the priority on the asphaltic surface. In addition, the intermediate space between the two corridors is designed as a neighbourhood park with the pass of the Fietssnelweg F24, a playground for children and a full-scale vegetation area. This way, the car externalities are distanced from the street facade and a soft mobility and activity corridor is created by the residential side on a holistic environmental basis. Furthermore, the continuity to the south of the F24, leading to the city of Tienen, lowers its position as it approaches a crossing street, so that the residential privacy is protected while avoiding a car intersection for the cycling highway.
Cycling infrastructure, as well as a necessary tool for ensuring biking mobility, is a tool for creating cycling-friendly environments. Its strategic use can create regional connections that transform the urban landscape. By also incorporating the need for a fully-developed social and ecological streetscape renovation, véloterritories can be configured.
Bibliography
- Bruntlett, M., Bruntlett, C. (2018). Building the cycling city: The Dutch blueprint for urban vitality. Island Press.
- Popan, C. (2019). Bicycle utopias: Imagining fast and slow cycling futures. Routledge.
- Verkade, T. & te Brömmelstroet, M. (2022). Movement: How to take back our streets and transform our lives. Scribe.
