Antwerp municipal council approves Transformation Guidelines and Spatial Plan

In the last meeting of the municipal council of the City of Antwerp before the general elections of 9 June 2024, the Antwerp Strategic Spatial Plan (Strategisch Ruimteplan, SRA) has been approved. The SRA describes the urban vision of Antwerp’s urban development for the coming years, until 2040.

That vision will be given shape in the city’s future spatial plans. In addition to the SRA, there is also the Transformation Guidelines: which describes how the city wants to accommodate the future additional space needs. The minicipal council now approved the final design of both.

The guidance is immediately effective; the SRA will come into effect at the end of July.

“The urban fabric of Antwerp is constantly changing. However, because the available space is limited, new urban developments cannot simply happen. They must fit within the Antwerp Strategic Spatial Plan, the city’s long-term vision on space use”, the press release says.

Antwerp wants to be the most liveable city in Flanders. That is why the SRA focuses on three themes: vibrant residential city, resilient landscape and smart network city.

With the SRA and the Transformation Guidelines, the city is now completing its range of instruments to shape the Antwerp of tomorrow. Together with the previously approved new Building Code and the new Urban Development Charges regulation, they provide direction for the pleasant and resilient city of the future.

Alderman for Spatial Planning and Urban Development Annick De Ridder (N-VA): “We achieved a real feat in the field of spatial planning. With a new building code, a new spatial plan, a new regulation on urban development charges and a transformation guideline, we as a city have completely renewed our policy instruments. This means we are completely ready to shape the city of tomorrow.”

Two separate tools

The SRA forms the new policy vision, which will be further detailed in the spatial plans for the city, such as master plans and spatial implementation plans.

The Transformation Guidelines provide the framework for discussions with the client about the possibilities that the environment offers for concrete projects. The guideline also serves to assess future applications for an environmental permit.

Alderman De Ridder: “The Transformation Guide ensures that we can smartly accommodate the expected population growth in the coming years by ‘densifying’ or in other words, increasing the quality where possible, so that as much publicly accessible greenery as possible is created at the same time. is created. The Transformation Guidelines indicate under what conditions additional volume can be built somewhere. This is always accompanied by additional high-quality greenery at the ‘ground level’. Additional building rights lead to a contribution to the urban green fund, which, together with government resources, is used for softening, purchasing green zones and additional greening.”

More on the Antwerp Strategic Spatial Plan, in Dutch.