12.09.2022
More than 3000 visitors,
7 bike routes,
11 locations open to the public,
and more than 500 to bike through!


European Open Heritage Day:
the Eilands of Southwest Flanders
The moated homesteads of Southwest Flanders are vernacular settlements that are surrounded by water, hidden within the urban sprawl of the city. In late medieval times there were more than 500 of them which constituted a network stretching from the urban centers to the countryside across the whole region, following the course of water.

Nowadays, a lot of these spaces have evolved into social catalysts with different vocations: educational, recreational, cultural, environmental... Some of these moated homesteads still have intact moats, others are incomplete, and many have altogether disappeared.

From above, these sites look like islands, or in Dutch: “eilanden”… What can their story teach us? How can they help us reorient our vision of urban life and project us into a sustainable future?


Kotrijk city website →
HLN news article 


Historical Research
Download map →







2017 — Frogtown, Los Angeles
The territorial-lab initiative is supported by the KI:SS project coordinated by the intercommunale Leiedal. Investigating the potentials of city centers as catalysts for economical challenges, it aims to stimulate entrepreuneurship and innovation to prepare future changes. The methodology implies to make meet local entrepreneurs expertise in experience with professional knowledge through future-oriented thinking, digitization and disruptive thinking with a necessary attention for long-term solutions. This communication reflects the views only of the authWith or, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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