Misc.

Between Ghent and Kanazawa

Re-think, Re-draw, Re-use, Re-imagine

2026

TBD 10

Gent

In collaboration with:

With the support of:

Ghent and Kanazawa have been official twin cities since 1971, but their ties go back 160 years. From 2026, the partnership will be renewed for the next five years. We reflect on what we can learn from each other.

Hera Van Sande 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa by SANAA

Both Ghent and Kanazawa are relatively small city centres within their respective contexts. Both cities face parallel challenges. Despite the fact that Kanazawa does not have such a long history as Ghent, both cities are confronted with the question of how to deal with their heritage. Kanazawa has a particularly rich cultural history dating back to around 1600 and was spared from bombing during the Second World War. Like Ghent, Kanazawa is faced with many questions about (over)tourism and how to deal with this rich cultural past in terms of preservation and/or reconversion. A second point of interest is the importance of greenery in the city. Since 2019, Ghent has been strongly committed to green climate axes in the city, with eight green climate axes connecting the city centre with the surrounding area. They are intended to improve the urban climate by providing cooling, preventing flooding, increasing biodiversity and creating a green network for walkers and cyclists. The corridors bring greenery and coolness from the countryside to the city and vice versa. Kanazawa does not yet have this tradition, but is opening the debate on these topics.

In a symposium, speakers from Ghent and Kanazawa will share their stories and exchange expertise on these two themes as a starting point for the collaboration.

Looking ahead, we are setting out guidelines for a five-year collaboration on the following themes:

RE-THINK → strategies for a resilient future
Urban fabric & policy … Where everything comes together.
Strategic commissioning, ecologies of good architecture

RE-DRAW → infrastructurally redrawing the city
Green climate zones, Mobility Plan, Housing Task Force.
Infrastructural, formative grand gestures.

RE-USE → role of individual buildings on the city’s identity vs heritage
The ‘City Building’ (re)defining the urban image and central in the architectural debate, with Ghent examples such as Design museum (ATAMA & Carmody Groarke), City Hall (Robbrecht&Daem & MJ Vanhee), Gravensteen (murmuur), Melopee (XDGA)..

RE-IMAGINE → power of imagination for the city’s future through education (students, young architects, parallel practices, …)
Student work, summer school exchanges, urban acadamy, long term exchange.