PERSONAL MANIFESTO

Baliebrugge is a village in the Belgian

province of West Flanders and is located
about three kilometers southwest of the
center of Ruddervoorde, along the road to
Torhout. It mainly consists of a small
parcelization around the center, but in
addition mainly of ribbon development
along the approach roads.
Although there are some public or
service-oriented buildings such as
schools, health facilities, shops or
religious buildings, the vast majority of
buildings are for residential use (houses).
Nevertheless, it is a landscape with quite
a lot of flora and fauna, and biodiversity.
Taking the general theme of the workshop
on new ruralities as a starting point, there
are some problems or challenges that
need to be solved.
As it happens in many areas in the
countryside, there is a loss of the
recreational use of the landscape, due to
the autonomy of each housing unit in
relation of the landscape (single private
garden houses), rural spaces are
under-exploited and unattractive, as well
as there is a lack of public spaces, along
with spaces for outdoor activities or
leisure.
The aim of the project is to improve the
main areas of the village and
surroundings, by proposing a continuous
walking path for pedestrians and cyclists
through the village and the surroundings,
reconnecting the main points of it as well
as some new architectural or landscape
interventions along the way. Bringing back
life to the village and reinforcing the
landscape, by improving the area and
making it more useful. So, the idea is to
maintain the essence of the countryside,
but adapting it to a modern lifestyle, a new
way of seeing and experiencing the
countryside village, as well as making use
of nature in a more viable way for human
life, tying the existing with the new.