Project History

The European Project « Septentrion – From fortified town to sustainable town », initiated by the Council of architecture, town planning and environment (CAUE) of the Nord Department, and managed since April 2003 by project manager the Nord Department, was borne from the growing concern of towns and local and national authorities to make heritage a key issue in sustainable development.

It received the support of the North West Europe programme (see www.nweurope.org), one of the 13 Interreg III community initiative programmes dedicated to transnational cooperation in terms of territorial development (refer to Project Briefing and Project Presentation Brochure).

It was officially opened on the occasion of an event in December 2003 in Lille, which brought together all of the partners for the signing of the Fortified Town Charter.

Since then, the project has provided the chance for all 23 partners to exchange their experiences on the occasion of:

- site and operations visits (Museum of fortification, the Vauban Circular Walk and Wenzel Circular Walk in Luxembourg, Relief map museum, and Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris, sightseeing tours in Ypres, the citadelle in Lille, fortifications in Brussels, Maastricht, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Le Quesnoy and Le Gravelines…),

- workshops and co-production: town handbooks, façades, …

- « Forts & Lumières » in several towns in the Nord – Pas de Calais region, on the occasion of Lille 2004, in Maastricht in 2004 and in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in December 2006,

Big meetings in Maastricht in 2004, in Bruxelles in 2005, in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2006. The closing meeting will take place in Lille at the end of 2007.