Louvain-la-Neuve
Louvain-la-Neuve (German Neu-Löwen ) is a Belgian planned city in the Walloon province of Walloon Brabant and a district of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve . It was established in 1971 as the home of the French-speaking part of the Catholic University of Leuven , the Université catholique de Louvain , which was created as a result of the split of the Catholic University of Leuven from 1967.
history
The place was created in the course of the Flemish-Walloon conflict in Belgium in the 1960s, when the Flemish movement saw itself pushed back in the age of the beginning mass university in its own Flemish-speaking lion. As a result, there were growing demands for the French-speaking professors and students of the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL / UCL) to resettle in Leuven . On the basis of a declaration by the Belgian Bishops' Conference of 1966, the two previous departments, separated by language, were converted into two independent universities, with a new city (a "new lion") being built for the French-speaking Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain). From 1971 onwards , the city of Louvain-la-Neuve was founded near Ottignies , about 24 km as the crow flies from Leuven, the first town to be founded in present-day Belgium since Charleroi (1666). The concept of the French Ville nouvelle served as a model . Under the influence of the art historian Raymond Lemaire, there was a move away from “urban planning à la Brasilia and Chandigarh” and an orientation towards more traditional cityscapes. Today Louvain-la Neuve has around 10,000 permanent residents. Around 19,600 students study at UCLouvain, around half of whom live in Louvain-la-Neuve during their studies.
The Grand Place and the Faculty of Theology
The Montesquieu square
Aerial view of the Louvain-la-Neuve technology park
Kot-à-projet
A special form of student accommodation in Louvain-la-Neuve is the kot-à-projet or kap for short : It is a shared apartment for students who run a charitable project. The university provides discounted apartments for the kaps. Over 100 projects have been created in this way.
The spectrum ranges from care for the handicapped, the organization of excursions, film and music festivals, orchestras and support for ERASMUS students to topics such as human rights or development cooperation - in the university town of Louvain-la-Neuve, two fair trade businesses have been established through these initiatives . A separate kap takes care of the event calendar and the announcement of the events on the Internet and on posters.
In the thirty years of their existence, the kot-à-projets have often played a pioneering role - the collection of waste paper in the university, for example, was initiated by a kap (but this task has now been taken over by the community).
Every year there is a big joint presentation of the activities of all kaps as part of a trade fair, where the public and (future) students can get information and, if necessary, find the right project for them.
24 hours vélo de Louvain-la-Neuve
Since 1976, the 24 heures vélo de Louvain-la-Neuve , organized by the students of UCLouvain and known throughout Belgium, has taken place once a year on a Wednesday at the end of October in and across Louvain-la-Neuve . There are three groups: a folkloric, in which the most originally decorated bikes are used, a humanitarian, in which money is collected for a good cause, and one in which it is all about athletic performance.
Hergé Museum
On June 2, 2009 the Hergé Museum was opened in Louvain-la-Neuve , dedicated to the work of the Belgian comic artist and author Hergé . Originally, Brussels was planned as the site for the new museum, but after there no suitable building was found, the initiators resorted to Louvain-la-Neuve. The glass and concrete structure was designed by the French architect Christian de Portzamparc . In the future, the exhibition is expected to attract 200,000 visitors a year.
literature
- Michel Woitrin: Louvain-la-Neuve, Louvain en Woluwe - Le Grand Dessin. Paris 1987 (report from one of the people involved in the start-up).
- Robert Schediwy: City images - reflections on the change in architecture and urbanism. Vienna 2006 (especially p. 134 ff.), ISBN 3-8258-7755-8
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ N , 4 ° 37 ′ E