Projects
BELGIAN MOMO HERITAGE ON THE RADAR - Re-reading modernist housing estates: an inquiry into the value of threatened heritage sites and the possibilities of adaptive reuse as a method for re-evaluation Hasselt University
From Flux to Frame. The Infrastructure Project as a Vehicle of Territorial Imagination and an Instrument of Urbanization in Belgium Since the Early 19th Century KU Leuven
Re-design of industry parks for a circular transition of the built environment KU Leuven
This PhD research is part of the overarching project ‘Regenerating Flemish Industry Parks’ (REFLIP). REFLIP focuses on Flemish industry parks, mostly dating from the 1960s - and requiring major spatial and infrastructural updates. As construction and demolition waste constitutes about one fourth of all waste, integrated circularity transition of these built environments is key. The REFLIP research project addresses the need to develop multi- ...
Platform Revolution from the Margin: How E-commerce Platforms Transform Peri-urban Spaces in China KU Leuven
E-commerce has grown substantially in China over the past decade, with Chinese digital platform providers becoming serious competitors for western corporations. In this project, I aim to examine the rapid expansion of China’s platform economy and resultant transformations of the country. I will add a sorely-lacking geographical perspective, which will contribute to explaining the role of geography in the development of platform economy and ...
Collective Spaces in Workers’ Villages in Northeast China: A Critical Socio-spatial Analysis KU Leuven
Workers’ villages were collective housing districts built for industrial employees and their families in the early period of New China. Collective spaces in workers’ villages were a crucial mainstay for the novel socialist life in the 1950s-1970s period. Since 1978 when China launched fundamental reforms nationwide, the once-exclusive workers’ villages have experienced vital changes in many aspects, which have put and are putting pressure on ...
Social mobility 'in situ' - Developing and designing inclusive dwelling environments in the ‘poor crescent’ of the Brussels Capital Region Vrije Universiteit Brussel
mobility within the Brussels Capital Region's 'poor crescent'. In particular, it looks at new
modes of conceiving urban housing projects and housing renewal strategies that address the
housing needs of underprivileged residents. These projects should incorporate crucial
prerequisites for upward social mobility such as space for ...
Incubators of Public Spaces. KU Leuven
Across Europe, urban areas are growing and regenerating themselves according to a combination of individual self-interest and strategic planning. These are well-intentioned but the results are unpredictable. The multiplication of individually satisfactory developments and interventions may still be collectively sub-optimal, as seen in the case of urban sprawl, which is a potent spatial expression of modern society. In this age of complexity, ...
PhD researcher: Deradicalizing the City in Marseille KU Leuven
Migration, integration and security have been among the major issues of urban governance in European metropolitan centres since the early 19th century and have been the object of various studies. Yet, less attention has been paid to how urban and security policies neighbourhoods’ targeting ‘immigrant in European cities have been transformed in our era of the ‘war on terror’. Taking Marseille (France) as our case study, this project seeks to ...
Deradicalizing the city. Policy assemblage, security and the question of belonging in Brussels KU Leuven
This research focuses on urbanity and security. A first objective aims to document and map policies and plans of urban regeneration and urban security in relationship to counter-terrorism and deradicalization policies. I take 2004, the year of the Madrid attacks, as a starting point since it also signals the official adoption of the term 'radicalization' at the EU level. A second research objective seeks to examine the (changing) ...