Research through design for healthy street canyons in Belgium

2018, funded by Flanders government, project leader: Sofie Depauw (Witteveen+ Bos), team members: Gert-Jan Steeneveld, Sanda Lenzholzer (WUR)

Many thoroughfares and major roads in Belgian cities suffer from heat stress, air pollution and noise problems, leading to health issues amongst local residents. Therefore the Flanders government has set out a programme to design more healthy streetscapes. The consortium of Witteveen+Bos and WU won the bid and works on research and designs for a range of very typical streetscapes. To create a reliable evidence basis an exhaustive literature review is conducted to create preliminary design guidelines. These guidelines are then tested for the typical streetscapes in a 'Research through Design' process.