Prof. Freek Persyn | NEWROPE Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation
Reframing the Winterslag Terril
Philippe Vandenbroeck’s research focuses on the intersection of imagination, urban transformation, and contested landscapes, centered on an exploratory case study of a historical mining site in Belgian Limburg.
The case study examines the former Winterslag mine near Genk, a region profoundly reshaped by 20th-century coal mining and its cessation in 1992. While parts of the site have been redeveloped into the C-mine Genk cultural and heritage centre, the monumental spoil tip (terril) remains largely undeveloped. Spanning approximately 110 hectares, its morphology has been transformed over 15 years of post-mining coal extraction, resulting in a striking and complex landscape. Today, the terril exists in a liminal state – privately owned yet informally accessible, its future suspended between municipal ambition and the owner’s hesitation. It has become a multifaceted space, accommodating diverse uses and meanings.
The work aims to explore what lies beyond the politics of exclusion (the terril as junk space), the politics of amnesia (the terril as a space of leisure and ecological regeneration), and the politics of atonement (the terril as memorial) that have often framed redevelopment efforts in Limburg and similar post-industrial landscapes. Central to the research is the concept of imagination, reframed from an individualized mental faculty into a reflexive and collaborative «practice of imagination» rooted in «the world as found». This practice engages multiple modes – representational, situated, interpersonal (erotic), co-existential, and poietic – and seeks to expand the participants’sense of possibility for both themselves and the spaces they inhabit.
Trained at KU Leuven in agronomy, philosophy, and urban planning, Philippe Vandenbroeck has 30 years of experience in supporting strategic decision and innovation processes through foresight and systems thinking. He is co-founder of shiftN, a network of professionals that aims to help leading organizations in business, civil society, and public administrations to understand complex challenges, interpret risks, and find new opportunities for societal and business value creation. Philippe is a doctoral candidate at the Chair for Architecture and Urban Transformation, ETH Zürich. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation for Systems Research, and is a member of several charity and NGO boards as Trustee or expert advisor (International Futures Forum, MonViso Institute, European Public Health Alliance).
Author
Philippe Vandenbroeck
Chair
NEWROPE Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation
LUS, D-ARCH
Prof. Freek Persyn (Supervisor)
Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard (Second Supervisor)
Project timeframe
2023-2026
