THE NEW MAP OF BRABANTSTAD

The challenge is to design an exciting image of the spatial agenda of the urban region of Brabant; BrabantCity. The map tries to make an inventory of the main spatial tasks the five involved cities (Breda, Den Bosch, Tilburg, Eindhoven and Helmond), as well as regional and provincial government are working on. These are tasks on accessibility, new urban facilities and concentrations, exceptional living environments, business areas and landscape development. The chosen time perspective is the near future (present – 2020) whit an occasional view towards. Together the displayed tasks provide a good indication of the spatial future of BrabantCity, both for the urban area and the in-between landscape.

The map is designed as a road map for visitors from inside and outside BrabantCity. All sites relevant at the scale of BrabantStad are highlighted. These are the locations that most visitors get to see and also form the image of BrabantStad. Combined, these features are in fact the public domain of Brabant. We also applied a tempographic rescaling of the sites which are time wise close to each other, like inner cities and highway locations, so that they also become near to each other physically . It creates the image of a metropolitan region with ample amenities, embedded in a diverse landscape.

The landscape in many places is an integral part of public domain and is especially crowded on the weekend by happily recreating citizens. The variety of urban amenities and scenic areas is characteristic of contemplative BrabantCity and provides a strong distinctive character compared with other urban regions. The way city and country meet is therefore a key theme in the spatial development of BrabantCity. In the map we deliberately increased the contrast between town and countryside. This creates a perspective on the future: BrabantCity as a system of a limited number of highly accessible dynamic urban nodes in a more rural and sometimes bewildered countryside.