Recycling our view on wastelands

A wasteland is a category of urban open space widely recognised as a resource. An apparently abandoned piece of land primarily serves as a space for discovery. Even if this is evident, a wasteland is generally considered from a mono-functional perspective. Research on the subject of wasteland is usually oriented towards the application of a single analysis, which this contribution examines for its limitations. This paper reflects on how to fill this gap, taking ‘En Ster’ wasteland in Liège as a laboratory. It assumes that a wasteland contains more than one meaning that may support a planning and design process, and by activating a dialogue between different landscape analyses on the same wasteland, it reveals multiple meanings. Rethinking a wasteland beyond its boundaries could support the protection and valorisation of the city's ecological and social dimensions.