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ANTWERP | Alderman Ken Casier calls for more greenery on Operaplein: “though it will not be an easy task”

by Timothy••0

The city administration of Antwerp is studying how the Operaplein could be made greener. The initiative comes at the request of Alderman for Green Spaces and Public Domain Ken Casier (N-VA). Over recent years, the largely paved square has increasingly come to symbolise what critics consider a problematic approach to urban design.

Criticism of the Operaplein did not emerge only years after its opening. Concerns about the design were already voiced in 2018, shortly after the square was inaugurated.

The square, located in front of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen‘s Antwerp Opera House and forming a central link between De Keyserlei and Meir, opened to the public in July 2018 following a long redevelopment of the Leien boulevards. Almost immediately, the project drew strong reactions from residents and visitors. Many criticised the absence of greenery and the vast paved surface, describing the new square as a “stone desert“.

Antwerp Opera House in March 2026.

Within weeks of its opening, more than 6,000 Antwerp residents had signed a petition calling for the square to be greened. Critics argued that the design was out of step with growing concerns about urban heat, air quality and climate resilience. At a time when cities were increasingly emphasising trees and green infrastructure to cool urban environments and improve air quality, the creation of a large square without a single tree struck many as a missed opportunity.

Visitors quickly noticed the impact of the design in warm weather. On hot summer days, the large paved surface absorbed and radiated heat, making the square uncomfortable to linger in. Passers-by remarked that trees or flowerbeds would have provided shade and cooling, arguing that the space became almost unbearable when temperatures rose.

Part of the explanation lay in the long planning process behind the project. The redevelopment of the Operaplein was conceived as part of the wider transformation of the Antwerp Leien, a project first initiated in the late 1990s. The design for the square itself was completed in 2007 and formally approved in 2008. As a result, critics argued that the project reflected the priorities of an earlier period. At the time, the primary objective was to untangle one of Antwerp’s most complex traffic junctions and to integrate new underground infrastructure, including the Opera premetro station and an underground car park.

Urban planners involved in the project also pointed out that the square had to accommodate significant infrastructure beneath its surface. The presence of the premetro station, road tunnels and parking facilities limited the available soil depth for planting large trees. Had current mobility trends been anticipated earlier—such as the growth of shared mobility and the decline of private car ownership—the underground parking structure might have been smaller or omitted, potentially allowing more space for trees.

Not all experts agreed with the criticism. Some urban planners argued that the Operaplein represented a deliberate design choice. They emphasised that cities also require large open public spaces that provide visual breathing room in dense urban environments. In this view, the square’s broad, unobstructed surface created a calm visual counterpoint to the busy surroundings of Antwerp-Central Railway Station, Franklin Rooseveltplaats and the adjacent shopping streets.

Supporters of the design also highlighted the square’s role as an event space and a central gathering place in the city. According to this perspective, not every urban square needs to be filled with greenery, and a large open plaza can serve an important civic function by accommodating public events, demonstrations and large gatherings.

Nevertheless, the debate surrounding the Operaplein reflected a broader shift in urban thinking. By the late 2010s, climate adaptation, urban cooling and green infrastructure had become central concerns in city planning. 

As a result, the largely paved square increasingly came to symbolise the tension between earlier design priorities and newer expectations for greener, more climate-resilient public spaces.

Operaplein in 2021.

Renewed calls for greening

The design of Operaplein dates from 2008, while the square itself opened ten years later. From the outset there was significant criticism about the lack of greenery and the vast expanse of concrete. During summer, the square functions as a pronounced urban heat island.

“The Operaplein was a missed opportunity,” said professor Roeland Samson of the University of Antwerp in 2024. “Who would want to sit there in good weather? On this stone desert it simply becomes far too hot.”

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Alderman Ken Casier now also acknowledges that the square might have been designed differently. He has therefore asked the city administration to examine how additional greenery could be introduced on the square in front of the Flanders Opera Ballet.

“However, it will not be an easy task, as there is a great deal of infrastructure beneath the surface,” Casier said. “A premetro line and a roadway run underneath, and there is also an underground car park. Any greening measures will therefore most likely be possible along the edges of the square.”

Between the design and the eventual construction of Operaplein, the understanding of public space has evolved considerably, partly due to the growing awareness of climate change. At the same time, new techniques have been developed that make it possible to plant trees above underground structures such as parking garages or tunnels.

Introducing greenery does not only make cities more resilient to the effects of climate change; it also encourages people to spend more time in public spaces.

Bio-engineer Tim Goossens recently studied the effect of trees in Zuidpark in Antwerp’s Zuid district, comparing current measurements with those taken when the site was still used as a car park.

“Even now, the park already feels on average 1.2 degrees cooler than before,” Goossens explained to Gazet van Antwerpen after presenting his study in early February. “In the future that difference could rise to 4.6 degrees. Beneath mature trees the local differences can be dramatic: in the coolest spots the temperature may be up to 18 degrees lower than in a comparable unshaded location.”

On the look of Antwerp

🇧🇪 Blogger, keen vexillologist, train conductor NMBS/SNCB, traveller, F1 follower, friend of Dorothy.

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