Sebastian van Berkel

City MotionUrban design as a remedy against the spreading ‘bypass road virus’

+31 6 41 82 27 69sebastian.vanberkel@gmail.comnl.linkedin.com/in/sebastianvanberkel@SebastianBerkel

Urban Designer at Must Urbanism

Urbanism

The patient’s name is Veghel. Veghel is a mid-size town in the southern part of The Netherlands. The virus called ‘bypass road’ will soon infect the town. Due to the expected growth of traffic in Veghel, the nation road authority, the Province of Noord-Brabant and the local municipality are forced to find a cure for this problem. Based on the logics of traffic engineering, their proposing the small scope solution of a new bypass road. This graduation project shows an urban design alternative for this everyday spatial phenomenon that’s taking over The Netherlands (shown on national virus map on the right). The reason that I’m considering bypass roads as a rapid spreading virus is caused by its negative symptoms affecting the spatial environment and the people using it. Towns are turned inside out in terms of economic dynamics. Where as economic development and interactions were historically concentrated near busy roads and intersections in centre of town, bypass roads are pulling them outwards. Besides that, bypass roads are causing disrupted town-country relationships, inevitable generic plot development between town and bypass road, mega-intersections and super sized roundabouts without human scale. The cumulative result is a generic sense of place with loss of spatial orientation. Everything looks the same. Don’t take that for granted! City Motion is an urban design and broad scope alternative for this virus that is going to affect Veghel (part of the place where I grew up). City Motion will solve the same traffic problem as a bypass road, only unlocking more spatial assets. Five steps / aspects should be taken in account: mobility motives, destinations, routes, experiences and place making.

The first and most important step is to determine the biggest and most distinguished mobility motives, emphasizing the user’s perspective. Why are people driving to / through Veghel? In Veghel these motives are driving for a job (truck driver, 25% of all traffic), driving to/from work (commuter, Veghel has more jobs than inhabitants) and driving as pastime (leisure-seeker, economic chance for Veghel). Each group has a different expectation about their journey to/trough Veghel in terms of experience, service, view, accessibility, liability, speed, etc. The mobility motives are translated into an ideal road profile design using a toolbox with twelve aspects e.g. materialization, addressing buildings, illumination, water drainage and plantation. In the following steps the ideal roads are put in place by determining the most important destinations in Veghel for each of the three groups of users, preferably using existing infrastructure space. The route for truckers for instance will divert truck traffic towards the industrial zone, using a runway-like road profile on a existing road. Traffic numbers will immediately drop 25% on the original route. The spatial asset is a unique and well utilized environment for logistic businesses. The same is done for commuters and leisure seekers, with spatial assets based on the their specific expectations. Further on the sequence of experiences along the route and the places where different users meet are designed based on shared interests.

My proposal will solve the same traffic problem and has more benefits for a large group of stakeholders compared to the originally proposed bypass road: no demolition of property and nature (benefits the public), better regional economic position (benefits local businesses) and the design can be phased (benefits the government). However the most important effect will be that driving through Veghel will be a whole new and distinct local experience.

Graduation date27 09 2012

Commission membersArjan Klok (mentor) Christiaan KwantesIngeborg Thoral

Additional members for the examinationKirsten van den BergJeroen de Willigen

Sebastian van BerkelCity MotionUrban design as a remedy against the spreading

‘bypass road virus’

Sebastian van Berkel

Urbanism

Mobility motives and town structure

Legend for the truck driver

Route designed with toolbox ideal

road for trucker - inside town

Route designed with toolbox ideal

road for trucker - outside town

Existing Logistic and industrial

businesses

Transformation towards logistic

and industrial businesses possible

Consolidation mixed businesses

Legend for the commuter

Route designed with toolbox ideal

road for commuter - inside town

Route designed with toolbox ideal

road for commuter - outside town

Town centre / Regional service

CHV-area (existing post-industrial

transformation zone)

Transformation towards mixed-use

possible

Legend for the leisure seeker

Route designed with toolbox ideal

road for leisure seeker - inside town

Route designed with toolbox ideal

road for leisure seeker - outside town

Town centre

CHV-area (existing post-industrial

transformation zone)

National heritage site

Regional park / reserve (Groene Woud)

Background

Motorway with mixed motives

Meadow-land

Arable land

Forest

Canal (Zuid-Willemsvaart)

Stream (Aa)

One of the proposed alignments of

the bypass road

Sebastian van Berkel

4 4428,5 28,50,3 0,3

4 4

4 4 1,4 3,63,6 1,4 44 2

Time passing along the route

One of the three toolboxes

Road Train Principle Time Addresses Speed Width Hight Surface Marks Illumination Plantation Energy Heath Water Cables / Pipes

Inside town ReliabilityEfficiency

24/7 Logistic and indus-trial activities (i.e. loading docks)

50 km/h 20,6m (both directions)

4,5 m Seamless concrete fibre mix

Big and wide (like a runway), addresses and directions noted on the surface)

Bright (like a construction site)

None, work floor Thermal storage, heated in winter (reliable)

Thermal storage, cooled in summer

Closed parallel gutter, centralized treatment

Service tunnel in the middle (reliable)

Outside town - 70 km/h 20,8 (both directions

Dark, self-sufficient with smart solar LED’s in road surface

To emphasize the route in the landscape like the adjacent canal,Poplar

Open parallel gut-ter, works as crash barrier too, central-ized treatment

None, self-sufficient

Urbanism

Image caption

t=0

t=1

t=2Time passing in years

Sebastian van Berkel

14:00

14:01

14:02Time passing at the moment

Architects, urban designers and landscape architects learn the profession at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture through an intensive combination of work and study. They work in small, partly interdisciplinary groups and are supervised by a select group of practising fel low professionals. There is a wide range of options within the programme so that students can put together their own trajectory and specialisation. With the inclusion of the course in Urbanism in 1957 and Landscape Architecture in 1972, the academy is the only architecture school in the Netherlands to bring together the three spatial design disciplines.Some 350 guest tutors are involved in teaching every year. Each of them is a practising designer or a specific expert in his or her particular subject. The three heads of department also have design practices of their own in addition to their work for the Academy. This structure yields an enormous dynamism and energy and ensures that the courses remain closely linked to the current state of the discipline.The courses consist of projects, exercises and lectures. First-year and second-year students also engage in morphological studies. Students work on their own or in small groups. The design projects form the backbone of the cur riculum.

Master of Architecture / Urbanism / Landscape Architecture

Amsterdam Academy of Architecture

On the basis of a specific design assignment, students develop knowledge, insight and skills. The exercises are focused on training in those skills that are essential for recognising and solving design problems, such as analytical techniques, knowledge of the repertoire, the use of materials, text analysis, and writing. Many of the exercises are linked to the design projects. The morphological studies concentrate on the making of spatial objects, with the emphasis on creative process and implementation. Students experiment with materials and media forms and gain experience in converting an idea into a creation.During the periods between the terms there are workshops, study trips in the Netherlands and abroad, and other activities. This is also the preferred moment for international exchange projects. The academy regularly invites foreign students for the workshops and recruits well-known designers from the Netherlands and further afield as tutors.Graduates from the Academy of Architecture are entitled to the following titles: Master of Architecture (MArch), Master of Urbanism (MUrb), or Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA). The Master’s