Embracing heritage and ambition
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With great ambition, work is underway to improve the historic core of Gennep. The aim is to develop a quality strategy that ensures spatial quality through a broadly supported process. Studio D, together with Gelders Genootschap, was asked to develop a design quality guide and an opportunity atlas that outlines spatial projects of interest in the medium to long term.
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How can we give a city new momentum and added quality while preserving its unique character?
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Clustering parking in the outer ring around the town centre creates space for urban transformation, allowing the urban fabric to make a qualitative leap.
The opportunity atlas does not contain immediately implementable plans. Deliberately, thinking extends beyond conventional boundaries to invite reflection on future possibilities.
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Quadrants
The centre of Gennep consists of four quadrants along the Groene Gracht and Nierskade. Each quadrant has its own character and offers opportunities to restore calm, coherence and quality to the streetscape and built environment.
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Eroded fabric
The urban fabric has eroded; the task is to restore it through intimate streets, cosy squares and green courtyards that reconnect the town centre.
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Restoring human scale
Behind the main streets, an intimate world can emerge, with meandering routes, unexpected sightlines and charming places. This is made possible by relocating parking outside the historic core.
Gennep strengthens its unique character by building on its cultural-historical assets: its location along the Maas and Niers rivers, its railway heritage and its historic town centre. Through a mix of preservation, restoration and carefully considered additions of buildings and greenery, a city emerges that is intimate, coherent and future-proof. The design quality guide provides direction for new projects, while the opportunity atlas invites creative ideas for the long term.
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A vision for enhancing the attractiveness of the historic urban edge
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Behind the main streets and the Market Square, space currently dissipates in many places and, in terms of scale, can even exceed that of the Market itself. The urban fabric has eroded. The challenge is to transform these areas back into intimate streets, small squares and courtyards by intelligently adding buildings and greenery. Behind the main streets, a different world can then emerge, one to wander through and enjoy, with surprising views of historic buildings and hidden places.
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The new design quality guide for the historic heart of the city is one of the building blocks of the spatial quality strategy. Alongside introducing new qualities, preservation and restoration of the historic townscape form the guiding principles. Development plans are expected to enhance the attractiveness and greening of this area.
The opportunity atlas invites thinking beyond conventional boundaries and exploring new possibilities.
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