type
Participation citoyenne
Context
The City of Liège wanted to incorporate public participation into the design process for the redesign of two squares in the city center : Place Xavier Neujean and the areas around the Opera House. The aim was to gather the opinions, needs and ideas of citizens, users, residents, shopkeepers, urban and social professionals, in order to refine the future project.
Mission
Responsible for carrying out the participation process, CityTools sought to enable the citizens and stakeholders affected by the redevelopment of Place Xavier Neujean and Place de l'Opéra to find their rightful place, express their point of view and influence the discussions. This process took place at the start of the design work for the redevelopment of the squares, so that as much information as possible could be fed back to adapt the project and stimulate new uses.
Approach
Following an ethnographic study of the site, several days of fieldwork were undertaken: interviews with users and observation of the realities of the two squares, which play both a central and a local role in the context of the city of Liège. In addition, an online survey was conducted among the people of Liège to gather their impressions of these spaces (1,600 people took part). At the same time, several bilateral meetings were organised with local associations, cultural institutions, shopkeepers and neighbourhood committees. An interactive exhibition was then held on the Place Xavier Neujean in November 2023, where many people from Liège came to see and discuss the outlines of the project.