From Spatial Planning to Socio-Spatial Activation: Emerging New Planning Approaches in Post-War Housing Estates in Flanders – The Case Luchtbal

Abstract

This paper reflects on emerging planning practices based on an actor-relational approach in the case of the Luchtbal social housing estate in Antwerp, Belgium. Drawing on relational understandings of space, Latour’s actor-network theory, and urban regime theory, this approach breaks with government-centred planning and instead fosters the development of associative governance networks around spatial issues—labelled socio-spatial activation. Luchtbal, a deprived high-rise estate in northern Antwerp, has been the subject of restructuring initiatives by the city and housing company since 2005, aiming to increase social mix and attract new residents. Despite considerable efforts to develop a physical masterplan, its implementation proved weak. This failure led to the development of innovative strategies focused on identifying and activating socio-spatial networks rather than resource-intensive technical planning. Written from the insider perspective of two practitioners—one as a city project manager and the other as a planning consultant—the paper discusses the case context, the application of actor-relational planning, and its preliminary outcomes, demonstrating the potential of socio-spatial activation as an alternative approach in deprived urban neighbourhoods.