Centre for Mobility and Spatial Planning (AMRP)

Applied research

The applied research of the Center of Mobility and Spatial Planning (AMRP) is organised around emergent spatial challenges within the ‘horizontal metropolitan area’ of Flanders and the Eurodelta area (Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt) are addressed, such as sustainable mobility, regional (mainport) economy, transport poverty, water and flood risk management, environmental health, energy transition, climate change, open space and sprawl, housing, heritage re-use, civic initiatives, urban regeneration and complex spatial transformation processes.

The theoretical and methodological background of AMRP lies within the actor-relational approach to planning. This approach focuses on the process of network building, in which various actors and spatial entities are brought together around new and innovative business cases and spatial associations, in order to attract new, robust and sustainable market alliances. It derives its leitmotif from the actual debate about state controlled versus neo-liberal planning and reflects on innovative post-structuralist scholars in the field of planning, economics, social geography and governance. As such, AMRP takes the position that not only governments, but also (and sometimes predominantly) citizens and businesses are pro-active contributors to spatial transformations.

AMRP takes a pro-active and operational research approach, in which participation, stakeholder involvement, daily urban and planning practices, experiments and Living Labs are key principles – in addition to the usual retrospective case studies. The applied research of AMRP results in concrete suggestions how to develop a more resilient planning-approach in an ongoing globalising, complex and fragmented world.

This are our current research projects:

These are the previous projects: