Over 30 delegates met in Belgium for a Sustainable
Urban Fringes (SURF) project workshop addressing
urban fringes.
The event was held in Ghent, East
Flanders but involved a day long
excusion to West Flanders in a
hands on approach to solving the
problem surrounding the urban
fringe of the West Flanders SURF
partner.
The workshop provided the
opportunity for SURF partners to
progress work on their primary focus
from one of the projects 4 key urban
fringe themes Delegates
had the chance to learn
more about research into urban
fringes from East Flanders Expert,
Dr Hans Leinfelder, Head of the
Department of Spatial Planning at
the Central Government of Flanders.
Issue 2 - 2010
Economy, competitiveness
and enterprise
The role and value of green
spaces
Planning and stakeholder
engagement
Governance of urban fringes
Until recently, Dr Leinfelder worked
for the University of Ghent, Centre
for Mobility and Spatial Planning and
in his research work was strongly
involved in urban fringe issues.
SURF was approved by the
Interreg IVB Programme in
September 2009. The project
brings together partners from 5
countries across the North Sea
Region.
The SURF project is split into 4
workpackages dealing with -
www.sustainablefringes.eu
“Connecting
Urban & Rural”
N e w s l e t t e r
Enschede was featured in a recent
Nature in the City programme
broadcast on Dutch television in
November 2010.
The programme was part of a series
that seeks out people and cities that
A regional approach to urban
fringes was the theme of a
national project parade on
suburban areas, organised by
the Dutch Ministry of
Infrastucture and Environment,
in November, 2010.
More than 50 delegates attended
the "Together Strong Urban
Fringe Areas" event which is part
of the Beautiful Netherlands
initiative.
Participants had the opportunity
to gain inspiration from practical
projects and take this knowledge
back to their own suburban
areas.
Delegates were encouraged to
use the landscape as a starting
point and liaise between town
and country in developing their
projects.
The event included a
presentation by SURF partner,
Rolf Oldejans, on a regional
approach to urban fringes which
outlined work of the SURF
project.
The audience was very
interested in the SURF approach
and the Ministry has asked for
more information on the project.
Urban Fringe on Television
Saxion University and the Dutch
Ministry of Housing, Spatial
Planning and Environment have
signed a Knowledge Agreement.
The document allows Saxion
access to information from other
Urban Fringe experiments in the
Netherlands, that are supported
in the programme ‘Mooi
N e d e r l a n d ’ ( B e a u t i f u l
N e t h e r l a n d s ) .
Saxion University is one of the
SURF projects scientific partners.
They are working with Leeds
Metropolitan University to
progress work on the 4 SURF
themes.
Enhancing transnational
learning, SURF partners
were encouraged to work
together and share
information at a recent
event in West Flanders.
An “Implementation Lab Lite” was
specially designed so the process
could be used in the busy SURF
schedule.
Usually a three day process the
Implementation Lab is a tried and
tested concept to encourage
paticipants to problem solve an issue.
As part of the process delegates
travelled to the Roeselare region in
West Flanders for a series of site
visits to gain better understanding of
the local urban fringe.
A study dossier about the area was
distributed to delegates. There was
also the opportunity to meet and
question local experts.
Jasper Dugardeyn, a regional expert
of the Province of West Flanders,
responsible for Nature and
Environment; and Pieter Foré,
Coördinator of KATHO Expertise
Centre Green Management gave
presentations to show more insight
into the issues.
A panel discussion with invited
speakers over lunchtime allowed
fuller understanding of the region
and the way it worked.
The speakers were Peter Norro,
provincial director responsible for
Nature and Landscape;Liesbeth
Gellinck, representative of the
are leaders in conservation.
The episode visited the urban fringe
area in Enschede and featured
people who have made a
commitment to looking after urban
wildlife.
Flemish Land Agency; and Koen
Venneste, a provincial advisor.
Workshops in the afternoon
completed the process and a full
report on the Implementation Lab
will be produced indicating results
and suggestions from the session.
The event was led by Huibert
Haccou from Saxion University,
Netherlands. The University is a
partner in the SURF project.
Further information about
Beautiful Netherlands can be
found on the website
https://kennispleinmooinederlan
d.vrom.nl/home.
The Sustainable Urban Fringes (SURF) project has a discussion group
on Linkedin. Why not joing the group and have your say?
Visit www.linkedin.com
SURF test runs an Implementation
Lab “Lite”
Dutch Project
Parade
Although Hamburg is still a growing
city the urban fringes are affected
by changing demographics. An older
population in the city is placing
economic, social, demographic and
spatial pressures on the existing
housing stock in the urban
environment.
The SURF project has enabled
stakeholders and experts from the
Metropolitan region of Hamburg to
meet and discuss the challenges
facing Suburbia.
A series of "Approaches to Suburbia"
events were held in November and
December.
The events aim to build up a
common understanding of
challenges, potential and
perspective of the suburban fringe
and allow an exchange of
experiences on suburban matters.
Participants at the events were able
to listen to experts from the region,
researchers and practitioners in
identifying the most important
challenges for Suburbia.
Speakers and panel members hope
to encourage an exchange of
experiences, ideas and best practice
on suburban matters.
Further events are planned for 2011
and 2012.
In each edition of the SURF
newsletter we will catch up
with the work of some of our
partners. In this edition the
spotlight falls on Hamburg
and West Flanders.
The project aims to increase the
overall spatial quality of the
landscape in the urban area of the
city of Roeselare, in connection
with the surrounding municipalities.
This should lead to a better
interaction and link between urban
areas and countryside.
SURF partners had a chance to
examine the urban fringe in West
Flanders at the project’s recent
Implementation Lab.
Stad-Land-schap ’t West-Vlaamse
hart brings together nine
municipalities of Mid-West-Flanders
who are working on a joined up
approach to enhance the
attractiveness, recreational potential
and landscape nature of the region.
The project aims to improve
interaction and links between urban
area and countryside to improve
quality of life and access to leisure
for people living and working in the
region.
Stad-Land-schap isWorking
out a green-blue
recreational network
Implementing green management
techniques.
Working on a reconversion of the
Stroroute, a disused railway track
into a cycle track.
Realisation of landscape business
plans.
Find out more about the initiative on
the website
www.westvlaamsehart.be
The project aims to enable
stakeholders to react, stabilise
and improve the quality of life in
suburbia, despite administrative
boundaries and traditional
competitive attitudes. This is to
develop suburbia's contribution
to regional competitiveness.
Saxion University - Supervised
an MSc thesis on Urban
Fringes which used SURF
partner Bradford as a case
study...
Hamburg organised a series
of stakeholder discussion
events “Approaches to
Suburbia...
Presentation about the SURF
project to a political cross
border commission of the
Euregio and the Baltic Sea
Region (BSR) in Minsk, Belarus
...
A portrait of the urban fringe
in Enschede was shown in a
Dutch TV series...
Rolf Oldejans had a meeting
with the Dutch partners of the
Plurelproject...
Norfolk held a stakeholder
study tour of the urban fringe...
Bradford - organised an urban
fringe business networking
event...
Saxion University signed a
‘Knowledge Agreement’ on
urban fringes with the Dutch
Ministry of the Housing,
Environmental Planning &
Environment...
West Flanders have published
a project magazine ’t WestVlaamse
hart’...
Enschede and Hengelo hosted
urban fringes visits by a Dutch
Ministry as inspiration for the
national policy on urban
fringes...
Find out more about the SURF partners on our website
www.sustainablefringes.eu
Spotlight on SURF partners
SURF Recent
Achievements
Hamburg
West Flanders
Project Partners are:
The Sustainable Urban Fringes (SURF)
Project is part of the Interreg IVB North
Sea Region Programme and is partly
funded by the European Regional
Development Fund.
The Flemish, Province ofAntwerp
has joined the SURF project
following official approval from
the Steering committee.
The Province aims to create
accessible green spaces around
major cities and through the
SURF project, will look at the
urban fringe around the valley
system of the river Laarse.
SURF will benefit from
information sharing and
transnational learning from our
new partner.
SURF Flemish partners are taking
part in an International Agriculture
and Horticulture Fair
:AGRIFLANDERS in Ghent, from
13-16 January, 2011.
This leading exhibition for the
Flemish agriculture and horticulture
industry is set to run for four days.
The exhibition will showcase the
latest agricultural and horticulture
products and technology.
The SURF Flemish provinces will
be represented at the event, with
information on SURF and short
presentations from the Antwerp,
West Flanders and East Flanders
projects.
Kevin Thomas, a SURF Partner from
Leeds Metropolitan University,
presented a paper at the "Developing
OpenSpace in Peri-Urban Areas"
Conference in Bruges in October.
The event aimed to open dialogue
between scientists, policy- makers,
administrators and
stakeholders on the challenges of
developing green investments and
their value in peri-urban regions.
Kevin, presented the paper, written
with Michelle Wishardt and Steve
Littlewood, titled
'How to make urban fringes work
better?".
The general theme of the conference
is the development of open space
in peri-urban areas and the value of
green investments, with a specific
focus on biodiversity.”
Over 200 International delegates
attended the event which was hosted
by the Flemish Land Agency (VLM).
SURF partners
Kevin Thomas
and Steve
Littlewood
recently had an
academic
journal article
published on
‘green belts
and green
infrastructure’.
The paper titled “From Green belts
to green infrastructure? The
evolution of a new concept in the
emerging soft governance of spatial
strategies” by Thomas K &
Littlewood S (2010) can be found in
the document Planning Practice and
Research, 25 (2) April, on pages
203-222.
Aberdeen City Council
(Lead Partner)
Leeds Metropolitan University
City of Bradford
Norfolk County Council
City of Enschede
Saxion University
City of Almelo
City of Hengelo
Province of East Flanders
Province of West Flanders
City of Hamburg
Municipality of Harryda
Province of Antwerp
www.sustainablefringes.eu
International
Agriculture &
Horticulture Fair
Review & Analysis
Developing Open
Space in Peri-Urban Areas