type
Initiative connexe
Context
For some years now, urban policies have been looking for a new lease of life, shaken by crises (climate and health) and in a turbulent political and democratic context. Faced with the current difficulty of responding to the challenges of our time, of projecting a clear horizon, and also faced with the increasing polarisation of the stakeholders, a group of people, including some CityTools-collaborators, has come together to actively seek an alternative. Their motto? Make the city differently ("Faire la ville autrement")! The group was initially made up mainly of architects and urban planners, before being joined by a number of Brussels residents keen to 'change things' towards a more committed, collaborative, coherent and sustainable city.
The initial group began by co-writing a carte blanche, which was published in Le Soir on 11 November 2021 (https://www.lesoir.be/405850/article/2021-11-11/bruxelles-faire-la-ville-autrement). This action triggered a process of mobilising the public to initiate change, including a call for contributions from Brussels inhabitants, in-depth work shared with the public, residents, administrations, decision-makers, etc. The idea: to dig deeper into the situation and tackle a series of urgent questions: Who makes the city? Where is the debate on local issues taking place? For whom is the city being built? What role do local residents play? What kind of dialogue do we need?
The contributions were the prelude to a collective moment to open the debate and sketch out a new dynamic. This forum took place in November 2022 at BRASS, where 110 people discussed various topics around the theme of "dialogue", coming up with different ideas about aspirations for our city, the roles of the players and how to really revive the debate on the city.
In the wake of the Forum, it became clear that we needed to reach out to a wider audience, by increasing the number of exchanges with a variety of stakeholders: young teenagers, the elderly, children, etc. The aim of this phase is to build new narratives about the city, to build trust rather than mistrust, and to reach out to people on the ground, in their neighbourhoods and on the streets.
The aim now is to continue this work and show it off at the next public event, to prepare the ground for the 2024 elections, and then to contribute to the new cultural horizon of 2030 (European capital of culture).