2nd lecture of Stad en Spoor: New regional connectivity: From Hyperlocal to Interregional

7 February 2018

Stedenbouw, verkeerskunde en regionale connectiviteit ontmoeten elkaar rondom het station. Het station is niet alleen een knooppunt in de stad, maar ook op regionaal, zelfs Euregionaal vlak op het snijvlak van economische, culturele en ecologische belangen waar de stad Maastricht zich in de 21e eeuw voor inzet.

Wouter Veldhuis and Thomas Straatemeier in conversation

Urban planning, traffic engineering, and regional connectivity converge at Maastricht’s central station. As well as being an important hub in the city, the station’s importance is also economic, cultural, ecological, and regional – even Euroregional.

How do urbanism and traffic management relate to each other? How can the municipality of Maastricht take into account the surrounding municipalities, the region of South Limburg, and cities such as Liège and Aachen? How strong is the South Limburg mobility network, how entrenched is Maastricht as a hub? How will mobility change in the future, and how can one anticipate and respond to this?

Wouter Veldhuis and Thomas Straatemeier give a double lecture, after which they enter into a dialogue with the audience, answering these and more questions.

Wouter Veldhuis
Urban planner, architect, and director of urban planning firm MUST, Wouter Veldhuis has extensive experience with complex, spatial projects, from buildings to entire regions. MUST investigates international connections and regionality and the economic interests involved. Such knowledge is necessary – both on a regional and local scale – when designing a more vibrant living environment and anticipating changing mobility demands. Regional strategies are also essential in bringing together city and landscape. Therefore, MUST often work with provinces and urban regions, constantly looking for new partnerships, network strategies, and sustainable urban and landscape patterns.

Thomas Straatemeier
Thomas Straatemeier is an urban planner and traffic expert at Goudappel Coffeng; he specialises in the spatial development of attractive and sustainable cities. Commissioned by the municipalities of South Limburg, he has carried out thorough investigations of the strengths and weaknesses of South Limburg’s and the Euroregion’s mobility network and is an expert on the related problems regionally. Goudappel Coffeng researches accessibility, quality of life, safety, sustainability, and economic vitality, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Expertise in mobility helps to address the contemporaneous mood and social context and informs strategy decisions, designs, and implementations, both to evaluations and information systems.

Stad en Spoor planning study
Bureau Europa is contributing to the Stad en Spoor (City and Rail) planning study, which stems from the Mijn Gezonde Groene Loper 2030 (My Healthy Green Carpet) action programme of the A2 Maastricht project. Together with Stad and Spoor, the municipality of Maastricht, in collaboration with the Province of Limburg, ProRail, NS, Maastricht Bereikbaar, and Projectbureau A2, is taking a closer look at the station area: from different perspectives, the station environment is explored in relation to the city, region and Euroregion. Focusing on mobility, health, and stations as a meeting place, the Stad and Spoor planning study culminates in an ambition document for central government, with recommendations for improving the quality of public space in and around Maastricht’s station area.

Date: 7 February, 19:30–22:00
Language: Dutch
Admission: free
Location: Hotel De L’Empereur, Stationsstraat 2 Maastricht

Illustration: Roel Meertens

photos: Moniek Wegdam