On 5 October, the Antwerp-based citizens’ initiative Ringland was awarded the Grand Prix des générations futures. A+ spoke to its founder, Peter Vermeulen, about the success of this fledgling collective.

The Ringland citizens’ group, founded in 2013 and funded solely through crowdfunding, took the city of Antwerp, the Flemish Region and the mobility management company BAM by surprise with a revolutionary proposal to completely cover the Antwerp ring road. Not with a pipe dream, but with a clearly costed and technically detailed alternative. Ringland, which enjoys massive support from the people of Antwerp, has thus seriously embarrassed the authorities, who had taken the Oosterweel link as a given for completing the Antwerp ring road. Indeed, this link did not appear to offer the best solution, nor the most desirable one, for tackling traffic congestion in Antwerp. A+ spoke with the founder of Ringland, architect and urban planner Peter Vermeulen.