I did a settlement study of the town of Tervuren, in Brussels

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Introduction

For my GCSE coursework I did a settlement study of the town of Tervuren, in Brussels. Six kilometers southeast of Brussels, the small town of Tervuren is one of the prettiest (and greenest) places in the region. Tervuren is situated in the center of the Brabant region, midway between Brussels and Leuven (as can be seen in the location map figure 1). Bordered in the south by the beautiful Forêt de Soignes, dotted with grand old houses, and surrounded by lush woodland, it is no surprise the area is a popular place to live, particularly with British and Irish Eurocrats, although strangely enough it remains firmly off the tourist track.

Connected to the city by the ten-kilometer-long avenue de Tervuren, a route most easily covered by tram #44 from Métro Montgomery, its centrepiece is the impressive Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale situated in the Parc de Tervuren - an attractive park of ancient trees, manicured lawns, lakes and flower-beds. Tervuren is a commuter town, mainly inhabited by expatriates who have come to work in Belgium. Tervuren functions as a market town.

The purpose of this study is to conduct an investigation about the CBD structure of a settlement area. I chose to study Tervuren because it is located in the green belt of the capital Brussels. It is also not a very big town so it would be easier to get more accurate results.  

Hypotheses:

  1. The town centre has a distinct CBD, identified by the ground floor land-uses of each building.
  2. The Street Quality Index (SQI) will be higher in the CBD than in the surrounding housing areas.
  3. The CBD will have higher pedestrian counts than the roads around the CBD.
  4. The CBD will have higher vehicle flows than the roads around the CBD.

Location map

 

 

Hypotheses

1. The town centre has a distinct CBD, identified by the ground floor land-uses of each building.

  • The CBD of the town is the main business centre were all the shops, offices town centre are situated. It is also the most accessible site with roads linking to the rest of the town. The town centre has the greatest accessibility because it is the main communication route into the city. This theory is supported by the Burgess Concentric Model shown in the figure below.

For this hypothesis we want to identify which area of the town is the CBD. This will be done by looking at all the buildings in the various sites and determining what their functions and purposes are. This will be done with the help of a booking sheet were we will record all the buildings and also we will do a detailed transect map of the towns main roads. I predict that the CBD will be located in the very centre of Tervuren, right near the shopping area and market place.

2. The Street quality Index (SQI) will be higher in the CBD than in the surrounding housing areas.

I predict that the SQI will be higher in the CBD because this is the part of town that has all the shops and business centre so the town mayor/counselor will do everything possible to make it as attractive and modern as possible, in order to get the attention of potential business opportunities and to make a good impression on people visiting the town. Whereas on the other hand, private house owners will not go into as much problem to make their houses look pretty because they wouldn’t want to spend that extract cash which the town counselor would.

3. The CBD will have higher pedestrian counts than the roads around the CBD.

I predict the CBD will have a higher pedestrian flow because it is the center of all the shops, businesses and entertainment. Everyone from all over the town will be coming into the CBD when going to work, shopping or just having fun. So I predict that site 1 will have the highest concentration of pedestrian because it is the closest to the CBD.

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4. The CBD will have higher vehicle flows than the rods around the CBD.

I predict that the CBD will have the higher vehicle flow because it has the highest number of function so all the customers going to work and shopping will pass through the CBD. The supplier trucks for all the businesses in the CBD will also be coming in to delivering the supplies and the thus more vehicles will pass through the CBD. I also think that site 1 will have the highest vehicle flow because it is closer to the CBD compared to the ...

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