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Tours and Events

City Tours (optional)

Wednesday, 19 September – offered by the Local Organising Committee
Guided walks though the historic city centre; start at 14,15 and 16 hrs. Departure from Elzenveld (Registration venue)

Welcome Reception
Wednesday, 19 September – offered by the Local Organising Committee
Location: Flanders Congress Centre (Zoo)

Technical Tour (for Congress Delegates and registered Companions)
Saturday, 22 September – offered by the Local Organising Committee

Participants can choose between several tours on different subjects. Starting from the Permeke venue, participants will board buses or walk to their chosen destination, accompanied by guides and city planners. Afterwards all groups will meet again at Atlas (Centre for Integration) to exchange views. The Tour will end with a reception in Atlas. The following subject areas are available:

1. Central Station and Kievit area: A major challenge. The challenge of major infrastructural works such as constructing the North-South connection for the High Speed Train which runs under the city and the redesigning of Antwerp Central Station on the one hand, and implementing the desired real estate development of the nearby Kievit-square phase II, where public space is a structural factor, on the other hand. Other projects in this area include the upgrading of the diamond district, the reorganisation of the bus depot in Rooseveltplaats, a social-economic input in the Copernicus block, a party hall near the railroad, the expansion of the Zoo and revitalising an existing concert hall.

2. De Coninck square and surroundings: An integrated approach, from vision to realisation. Formerly a vivacious popular quarter, which during the last 40 years declined into an area of ill repute. In close cooperation with Flanders, Belgium and Europe the City has invested not only in streets and squares but has also bought up derelict houses and abandoned office buildings. The Designcenter, a new public library, a business centre and a social restaurant were built. Complementary to this new infrastructural hardware various socio-cultural dynamics were enhanced and form the software to ensure enduring urban renewal. The City has received a regional and an international award for its integrated and sustained approach of this complex environment.

3. The Sailors’ Quarter (Schipperskwartier): Another kind of seduction in a former red light district. The strong signal of a petition by the neighbourhood’s inhabitants in 1998 was answered with broad measures, tackling illegal commerce as well as prostitution, and by urban development initiatives designed to increase the area’s attractiveness for investors. The City’s efforts in this quarter were rewarded with several national and international awards.

4/5. Spoor Noord and The Islet (Eilandje): Urban voids – Redevelopment of old docks and railroad areas.
This tour is already (2 Juli 2007)
FULLY BOOKED
“Spoor Noord” is an abandoned railroad site. For more than a century this site has constituted a 24-hectare barrier between the surrounding quarters, which will now be transformed into a landscape park. The park should be completed in 2008 and will be the symbol of a new urban geography based on liveability and sustainable development.
A series of ambitious projects are currently transforming the “Eilandje” – the area between the oldest harbour docks – into a lively quarter full of commercial and cultural activities. Among the projects realized are St. Felix, a 142-year old renovated warehouse, at present the new home of the Municipal Archives, and Hangar 26-27 which was converted into a media centre and congress space (venue of the closing session). The most important planned project is the MAS Museum designed by Neutelings-Riedijk Architects, which will be completed at the beginning of 2008.

6. Kiel: A suburb illustrating the progressive concepts of different eras of social housing.
FULLY BOOKED
Separated from the city centre by the ramparts and later by the highway this district has developed its own identity over time. The 1920 Olympics and the World Exhibition of 1930 added extra character and charisma. Typical neighbourhood characteristics include innovative and progressive social housing projects, many of which have been recently renovated. Main features: a shopping street with a new shopping centre (a former military shooting range) and the football stadium.

Companions’ Excursion
Friday, 21 September
Cost: €100.00/person (Companions’ registration fee included) (Minimum 20 persons)
A full-day guided walk in the city centre, exploring Antwerp’s cultural assets and shopping. Lunch at the Bourla Theatre is included. The theme of this excursion is diversity: foreign influences throughout history and actual stories about the evolution of the city’s street appearance.

Farewell Dinner and Cultural Evening (optional)
Sunday, 23 September
Cost: € 65.00/person (Minimum 100 persons)
Evening programme to be confirmed

Post Congress Mobile Workshop, 2 days (for Congress Delegates and Companions)
Mon 24 and Tue 25 September
– offered by the Local Organising Committee, the Antwerp Port Authority and the Cities of Ghent and Liège.
Participants wishing to extend their stay are invited to join these Mobile Workshops. They are reminded to arrange for additional 1, 2 or 3 night(s) accommodation in Antwerp.
Single-day participations are permitted; participants are required to register for each day.
Monday: Mobile workshops Ghent or Port of Antwerp (free choice)
Tuesday: Mobile workshop Liège

Cultural Events

Welcome Reception

Ariadne and the Jokke Schreurs Trio – jazzy, smoky and classy
Jokke Schreurs, one of Belgium’s greatest guitar players, will perform at the congress opening reception (19th of September, Zoo venue) with Sam Stuyck (guitar) and Ben Faes (contrabass) and, for this occasion, singer Ariadne Van Den Branden.
Ariadne sings accessible, nostalgic and swinging classics by composers like Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers & Hart, Nat King Cole. She also sings French classics – performed in swing style, the old fashioned way…
The combination of Ariadne with the Jokke Scheurs trio evokes the atmosphere of a jazzy, smoky and classy nightclub of the ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60s.

For a musical foretaste, see
http://users.telenet.be/Ariadne-van-den-brande/ Follow the links “Jazz” and “Muziek fragmenten”

Art Break

Art break: Antwerp Fashion Academy During coffee breaks at Elzenveld on 21 September, a presentation will be shown of the 2006 graduates of the Antwerp Fashion Academy

Farewell Dinner

Performance by Koen De Cauter and guests – Jazz, Gipsy music, Musette or French chanson?

Koen De Cauter, the founder of the Waso quartet, has 35 years of stage experience. He plays multiple instruments and has made several albums. He is a renowned interpreter of Brassens’ oeuvre, has been the soul of several projects and recordings relating to famous poet Guido Gezelle, Sydney Bechet, the Manouche gypsies, New-Orleans Jazz, Hungarian gipsy music and lots more.
Who knows which mystery guests he will bring along.