Exhibitions by the Institute of Urbanism

Two exhibitions by the Institute of Urbanism opened up a transdisciplinary space for exchange and discussion in the foyer of the Campus Alte Technik building in 2025. In the spring, the show “The Art of Urban Design: Post-Industrial Regeneration in the Work of Marcel Smets” presented the urban design practice of this early Flemish bouwmeester, spanning three decades. The cooperative partnership with the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca cited the projects Leuven Station, Antwerp Central Station, Île de Nantes, and Antwerp Ring Road in order to show how strategic planning, spatial narration, and jointly developed processes are able to contribute to urban transformation. In addition, the exhibition provided an opportunity to reflect on the conversion of industrial wastelands into livable spaces rather than speculative ones.

In the fall, “Ré-appropriations: Towards a Regenerative Approach in Architecture” was on show at Graz University of Technology. This exhibition by the Institut Culturel d’Architecture Wallonie-Bruxelles examined strategies for the sustainable redesign of the built environment and for repairing a damaged world. Models, photographs, films, and drawings of six buildings realized in Wallonia and Brussels depicted architectural practices focused on the reuse of sites and materials. The firms involved—AgwA, Artau Architectures, Label architecture, Notan Office, Olivier Fourneau Architectes, and Ouest architecture x RotorDC—concentrated on densification instead of new land consumption, on regeneration instead of demolition, as well as on the reuse of building materials.

Accompanying publications document the thematic areas addressed, well beyond the duration of both exhibitions, and promote international dialogue on spatial, ecological, and social transformations.

Moritz Müller