Antwerken initiative in Antwerp (Belgium) - Osmose

CASE STUDY
http://www.osmose-os.org/
Antwerken initiative in Antwerp (Belgium)
Topic
City-wide campaigns using marketing and branding
Summary
The City of Antwerp is undergoing from 2000 to 2015 a large scale renovation of its
transport infrastructure, being it road or rail. The activities are brought together in a
Master plan Mobility for the wider city region. The whole programme is coordinated by a
temporary agency: the BAM (Management Unit Antwerp Master Plan). The key
investments include:
‣ A renovation of the city ring road, a highway that is part of the TEN-T network.
‣ A renovation of the main urban highway (‘Leien’) that crosses the city from South to
North.
‣ Large railway investments, including the connection of the Antwerp Central Station
with the High Speed Train (HST) lines Brussels – Amsterdam, and the preparations
of a regional railway system.
‣ The construction of a fixed cross-river connection (a bridge, or combined bridge –
tunnel) across the Schelde river.
‣ Extensions of tramway lines to the outskirts of the urban region.
‣ The vast scale of these construction works, the innovative segmentation and
sequencing of the works and the importance of the accessibility of an important
economic area such as the Port of Antwerp, lead to the decision to combine the
hardware measures with a comprehensive but broad scheme of soft accompanying
measures. These measures represent a smart combination of:
‣ Increase of public transport, being it by road or rail. New fast bus lines link up Park &
Ride areas outside the urban area with the city centre. Most of the increased public
transport offer will remain after the construction works are finished.
‣ Provision of alternative routes for motorised transport, with a strong focus on freight.
This includes smart signposting (starting even at the Belgian boarders), and GPS
applications. These alternative routes include measures such as temporary bridges.
‣ Improvement of the bicycle network.
‣ Teleworking schemes etc
‣ The accompanying measures are jointly promoted under the brand ‘Antwerken’, a
wordplay with Antwerp and Werken (Works). The main message of the campaign is
that everybody has to do their share to make the infrastructure works a success, and
to reduce its impacts.
Case study
City-wide Campaigns using Marketing and Branding are an innovative scheme
presenting awareness raising events and activities that are organised at city level in
close cooperation with public and private bodies and that are run on a permanent basis.
These campaigns respond to the need to involve citizens and raise their awareness on
the various mobility opportunities that are proposed within a city and its outskirts. They
aim at disseminating a clear message promoting sustainable urban mobility at local level
and at informing the local community on the different transport modes available to them.
Some of these broad campaigns use the branding of an integrated transport system
through different communication tools such as post-cards, advertisements on buses, TV
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CASE STUDY
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commercials etc. which is of clear added-value. They clearly outline benefits of green
alternatives to cars and gather all marketing messages into a same and coherent brand.
These City wide campaigns schemes can be found in different forms but all encourage
public discussions on potential or already existing mechanisms and alternative transport
modes. These campaigns are organised and financially supported by the local authority
or its transport department. Partnerships with local media or promotion at the occasion of
specific communication events are to be put forward. A good and regular press coverage
on City campaigns will ensure a more effective campaign and modal shift will be
increased.
The tools used within the campaign are adapted to the target audience and user-friendly.
An appealing design attracts more people, and values them as customers.
Basic facts
The City of Antwerp is undergoing from 2000 to 2015 a large scale renovation of its
transport infrastructure, being it road or rail. The activities are brought together in a
Master plan Mobility for the wider city region. The whole programme is coordinated by a
temporary agency: the BAM (Management Unit Antwerp Master Plan). The key
investments include:
‣ A renovation of the city ring road, a highway that is part of the TEN-T network.
‣ A renovation of the main urban highway (‘Leien’) that crosses the city from South
to North.
‣ Large railway investments, including the connection of the Antwerp Central
Station with the High Speed Train (HST) lines Brussels – Amsterdam, and the
preparations of a regional railway system.
‣ The construction of a fixed cross-river connection (a bridge, or combined bridge –
tunnel) across the Schelde river.
‣ Extensions of tramway lines to the outskirts of the urban region.
The vast scale of these construction works, the innovative segmentation and sequencing
of the works and the importance of the accessibility of an important economic area such
as the Port of Antwerp, lead to the decision to combine the hardware measures with a
comprehensive but broad scheme of soft accompanying measures. These measures
represent a smart combination of:
‣ Increase of public transport, being it by road or rail. New fast bus lines link up
Park & Ride areas outside the urban area with the city centre. Most of the
increased public transport offer will remain after the construction works are
finished.
‣ Provision of alternative routes for motorised transport, with a strong focus on
freight. This includes smart signposting (starting even at the Belgian boarders),
and GPS applications. These alternative routes include measures such as
temporary bridges.
‣ Improvement of the bicycle network.
‣ Teleworking schemes etc
The accompanying measures are jointly promoted under the brand ‘Antwerken’, a
wordplay with Antwerp and Werken (Works). The main message of the campaign is that
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CASE STUDY
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everybody has to do their share to make the infrastructure works a success, and to
reduce its impacts.
Users and stakeholders
The users or target groups of the campaign include a very broad range of people and
companies. The campaign is directed towards citizens and passenger transport, but at
the same level to companies and individual truck drivers for freight transport. As Antwerp
is an international turning point for freight and commerce, the information is
communicated in the city, in the region and internationally.
Most important stakeholders have a formal role in the implementation of the Master plan
Mobility through the management board of the BAM. The stakeholders include: the city
authority, the Province, the regional authority (Flanders Region), the Belgian Railways
(NMBS), the Flemish PT company (De Lijn) and the port authority.
Implementation set-up
The BAM brings all stakeholders together and coordinates both the infrastructural works
and the accompanying measures. This leads to a very strong synergy between both
approaches to the problematic accessibility situation. Parts of the accompanying
measures (e.g. teleworking, GPS based information) have been outsourced to
consultants with specific engineering or campaigning expertise.
Future prospects
The campaign is linked to a specific situation and will disappear after the construction
works have been implemented. As written before, some of the accompanying measures
will however continue. The renovation of the ring road is one of the major road works to
be finished soon (in about 2 years). These works have more impacts on the accessibility
of the urban region than other measures on the list. The focus of the Antwerken
campaign is then likely to change to an approach that is aiming at public involvement
with the preparation of the fixed cross-river connection.
Links
www.antwerken.be
Author contact details
Valérie Benard
Project Officer, Eurocities
Square de Meeûs 19
1050 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 5520866
Fax: +32 2 5520889
E-mail: v.benard@eurocities.be
City or region
Antwerp
Country
Belgium
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