Theme

Ever heard of a living lab? A living lab is not just using the city as a laboratory to do experiments. And citizens are not just guinea pigs.

In a living lab, the users of the city steer the research.

They put scientific theory into practice and experiment for and through the city. The goal is social innovation, an improvement in the lives of all.

Sounds like something for BRAL? That's right!

Many living labs fail to work in an inclusive way and only attract one particular audience. Or their living labs can only be applied to a very specific place. Too bad, isn't it?

Cosmopolis of VUB set up an international consortium to bypass these pitfalls with a 'smart' living lab. BRAL joined in. We set to work with a living lab that involved certain groups from the outset and focused on the urban level.

A Brussels lab on air quality

For the last three years, BRAL has been working on a living lab to measure air quality in Brussels, AirCasting Brussels. We did this together with Cosmopolis of VUB and with the support of Innoviris. BRAL's priority was to sustainably mobilise citizens for healthy air in Brussels. A scientific lab with citizens on air pollution was essential for BRAL to achieve this goal.

An important step was to attract people who wanted to participate in our research to measure the air quality in Brussels. We already noticed in the ExpAIR project that the attraction for a participant can be immaterial: the pleasure of discovering, learning and thinking together on a specific issue.

BRAL's role was therefore not that of an expert. We came to the citizen with the message: "We want you to become an expert".

With a mobile measuring device and an app on the smartphone, the civil scientists could quickly get down to work. Volunteers registered more than 500 hours of concentrations of PM2.5, and collected more than a million data in ten months' time.

These data were collected on an interactive map showing the daily experience of the inhabitants of Brussels. That's how we met the need for scalability of our project. Wherever you are, you could see what your exposure was. Because you also step outside of your own home. And then you are also exposed to air pollution.

We started with three groups of action researchers: residents living in the heart of Brussels, expats working for the EU and bicycle militants. Each time we adapted our lab to the lives of the volunteers, their pace, their lifestyle, their availability. We grew from three groups to about ten. BRAL learned that as a facilitator we could be very flexible according to the expectations and needs of the groups.

Gathering, measuring and combining knowledge was the key to success.

Gathering, measuring and combining knowledge was the key to success. It greatly accelerated the collective knowledge, the sense of responsibility towards the group and the empowerment and desire of the action researchers to mobilise.

For the scientists and for us, too, the process of experimental learning, the exchange of knowledge, proved to be crucial in order to improve our project.

An international consortium Smarterlabs

We weren’t the only ones organizing a living lab. For the European project SmarterLabs, three other cities (Maastricht, Graz and Bellinzona (Switzerland)) created their own living labs.

But what does a living lab mean? And how do you start one yourself? You can find our lessons learned in the guidelines (short and long version) and a video. We hope it will help anyone who wants to set up a living lab in the future: citizens, researchers of practitioners!

SmarterLabs was supported by the Urban Europe Joint Programming Initiative of the European Union. You can find more information on the project here. https://smarterlabs.uni-graz.at/en/publications-results/

If you want to cite this document, you can use the following reference: Dijk, M., da Schio, N., Diethart, M., Höflehner, T., Wlasak, P., Castri, R., Cellina, F., Boussauw, K., Cassiers, T., Chemin, L., Cörvers, R., de Kraker, J., Kemp, R., van Heur, B. (2019). How to anticipate constraints on upscaling inclusive Living Lab experiments, SmarterLabs project 2016-2019, JPI Urban Europe.

Smarterlabs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smarterlabs/

AirCasting Brussels + curious citizens + instruments for citizen science = measurements of exposure to air pollution + citizen science that leads to action

Citizens are daily exposed to air pollution. But how strongly exactly, depends on when and where you are located. You’re often not aware that where you live, work or frequently pass by is actually heavily polluted. This is why BRAL and Cosmopolis VUB, together with many citizens, undertook the project AirCasting Brussels.

Citizens measured their exposure with mobile devices. Thus they became experts on their environment. And once they had this knowledge, citizens became actors. They undertook action to improve their environment.

BRAL and Cosmopolis took great pleasure in firing on these sprouting citizens’ initiatives to demand the right for clean air. Because we all deserve a better, livable and healthier air.

We made six videos together with the wonderful people of ZinTV. We as BRAL and Cosmopolis present our project. We give the mic to five AirCasters who threw themselves in the project and the demand for clean air in Brussels: Patricia, Rajaa, Katia, Olivier K en Oliver D.

We thank them profoundly for their participation and testimony!

Cosmopolis VUB: http://www.cosmopolis.be/research/aircastingbxl

BRAL: www.bral.brussels/cleanair

Video: https://vimeo.com/showcase/6055752

 

How important is urban green in Brussels for you? Which green spaces do you use and why? What do you do in these spaces?
VUB, ULB & Innoviris are looking for participants for our online survey on the use of green spaces in Brussels. With this research, we hope to gain insight into the role green spaces play in the lives of Brussels residents, how Brussels residents use parks and small green spaces in the city, how they feel about these spaces, and which green space characteristics they find important.
Click the link below to take the survey!
https://www.co-nature.org/survey

It is urgent to stop the double process of deregulation of the legal framework and weakening of the public debate which brings us back to t he years of the first "Brusseliz ation" of 50 years ago

The Bas les PAD collective brings together many residents, neighbourhood committees, associations and federations active in the fields of the environment, spatial planning, sustainable development and housing in the Brussels Region.
After having mobilised separately, we took the decision to coordinate our actions independently of the political parties represented in the Parliament of the Brussels Capital Region.
Bas les PAD is alarmed by the recent proliferation of unsuitable and disproportionate urban projects.
During the last revision of Brussels Code for Spatial Planning (CoBAT/ the Region created a new legal tool, called the Territorial Development Plan ( better known in French as PAD (Plan d’Aménagement Directeur) or in Flemish as R PA (Richtplan van Aanleg). In an area determined by the government, a TDP will supersede any contradicting regulation and plan.
The analysis of the eight TDPs in progress, who already passed the public consultation, leads us to the following three main obs ervations

  1.  the TDP causes the breakdown of the regulatory framework as a whole: By making it possible to derogate from all the other town planning rules, the TDPs are a double-edged sword too powerful today and who contribute to the deregulation implemented by the government (at all levels of the Brussels regulatory hierarchy). The final adoption of the TDPs would endorse a myriad of unmeasured and unsuitable projects, most of which have already been conceived before, but were often hindered so far for various reasons (notably legal). This new regulatory tool therefore appears to be legalising what was not possible before. It is the expression of an outdated vision on urban planning.
  2. the TDP contributes to the weakening of the public debate: The too rare information sessions instead of public consultations, the insufficient duration of public inquiries and the biased nature of the environmental impact reports that accompany them or the absence of a meeting of the consultation committee, are all si gns of a worrying decline in citizen participation around issues related to the city and the living environment of its inhabitants and users, a decline taking place in parallel with the deregulation process.
  3. the TDP is the expression of an outdated vision on urban planning: Despite the good intentions regarding the need for accessible housing and public facilities or the objectives of carbon neutrality and preservation of biodiversity, the solutions proposed are far from being a match for the social and e cological crisis (climate and loss of biodiversity) that the Region must face. The intended developments are too often a brutal disruption of the existing urban fabric. On the other hand, they claim to be the only response to the demographic growth, which has been revised downwards and does not correspond to the proposed projects. The concept of the TDPs is not being evaluated nor are its effects monitored. Neither does it show any trace of adaptability required for a public instrument anticipating several decades.

We first ask for the adoption of a moratorium on the TDPs pending an evaluation of this instrument through a public debate! By taking a common position, Bas les PAD also intends to:

  • Coordinate our actions in order to strengthen, with the support of the federations, the specific positions of the committees and associations which have mobilized against the breakdown of our regulatory framework and in favor of better collective participation in the development of our Region;
  • Revitalize the public debate in decline on issues of urban development in general and on the conception of the TDP in particular, in order to get out of the dire legal and technical situation in which it is currently caught;
  • Interpellate the responsible politicians in Brussels regarding an urban planning tool which opens the door to speculation by the big financial players at the expense of the inhabitants of Brussels;
  • Encourage the Government and the Parliament to modify the Brussels Code for Spatial Planning by integrating more efficient evaluation and participation processes;
  • Demand to preserve public domain, namely to develop the public domain, too scarce in Brussels, in order to be able to respond with greater command to the social, environmental and economic challenges of today and tomorrow.

Supports of Bas les PAD

ARAU (jm.bleus@arau.org), BRAL urban movement for Brussels (steyn@bral.brussels), Inter-Environment Brussels (IEB - claire.scohier@ieb.be), NATAGORA Bruxelles, La Plaine, le comité de l’Hippodrome de Boisfort, Wolu-Inter-Quartiers (WIQ) and the Association of Committees of Ucclois district (ACQU), les amis de la Foret de Soignes

Contacts

For Bas les PAD: info@baslespad.brussels - tél. 0473.667.505

And to contact each TDP respectively:

For a JPI Urban Europe project on Positive Energy Districts, Cosmopolis is looking for a motivated researcher.

The TRANSPED-project establishes a learning network with Positive Energy Districts and neighbourhoods that have ambitious goals in terms of a sustainable energy transition, with cases in Brussels, Stockholm, Lund, Tirol and Graz . The aim is to understand how urban energy strategies can be locally embedded, monitored and upscaled to realise a radical shift towards a more sustainable, democratic and just urban energy system.

As researcher on this project, you will collaborate with local partners in Brussels and with the international project partners. You’ll shape a co-creation process with the stakeholders involved, organise and participate in international workshops and online meetings. You will also perform several research tasks, such as elaborating case studies about the energy projects, writing policy recommendations and/or scientific articles and reports. You’ll be supported by motivated colleagues at Cosmopolis.

Cosmopolis is looking for a candidate with experience or affinity with the topic of sustainable urban development and just energy transition. Familiarity with the Brussels stakeholder context is an advantage. You can work independently, are communicative, and like collaborating with a diverse group of partners.

It is possible to combine this position with a PhD trajectory, but this is not mandatory. The position can be fulltime for a shorter period, or parttime for a period up to 2 years.  The conditions and content of this position will be designed in dialogue with the candidate. The project will be launched in February 2021.

Are you interested in this position and would you like to know more about this vacancy? Please send an email to fabio.vanin@vub.be en griet.juwet@gmail.com  The official vacancy and application procedure will be communicated in due time.

What is Bral?

Bral is a non-profit-organisation which stands for Brusselse Raad voor het Leefmilieu (Brussels Environmental Association). It is an independent network of residents' committees and active residents who took interest in the city environment in every meaning of the word, which means as much to the environment itself as to mobility, urban development as urban renewal.

Moreover, Bral is the Dutch-speaking environmental federation in the Region of Brussels and is in this sense considered by the regional and federal governments to be the official advocate representative for the active residents and residents' groups. This is why Bral is established in various official consultation bodies like the Environmental Council and the Regional Development Committee.

As we are in the bilingual context of Brussels, Bral does of course work with all residents, French and Dutch-speaking.

What does Bral stand for?

  • urban development that promotes secure housing and fights speculation
  • a participative urban renewal policy that is against dualization and promotes inclusion of residents and users
  • comfortable and affordable housing, in the first place for current residents
  • a city that produces less garbage
  • a different model of mobility in the city, focusing on the vulnerable road user and on livable streets and squares

What does Bral do?

Bral serves as an instrument for the active and organized 'Brusselaars' who want to work on the city constructively and in keeping with Bral's mission because Brussels is our shared pet project. Armed with a knowledge of plans, laws, regulations and studies and moreover with a healthy dose of refreshing ideas, Bral supports local groups dedicated to creating a livable city. We are not a neutral mediator. We look for like-minded partners. This means in the first place the neighbourhood committees, residents' associations and local activist groups.

Our operations that offer support to local groups include:

  • gathering information, which frequently concerns complicated plans, technical concepts, complex legislation and policy developments, and making this information accessible, understandable, and manageable
  • helping to determine strategies starting from our own vision and experience, for example, in following up on planning procedures (public hearings, ...)
  • providing publicity, giving shape and recognition to positions on a more livable Brussels

This is all accomplished through residents' meetings, media campaigns, debates, workshops and other educational opportunities, participating in official consultative procedures and on counseling bodies, our newsletter 'Alert', and our website.

Besides this, Bral uses the observations and ideas of its supporters as its starting point for lobbying and it speaks out critical views on policy. Finally, Bral organizes sensitization campaigns aimed at the general public.

Let it be clear, however, that our work is never finished!

What can you expect from Bral?

  • support for local groups (see above)
  • issues concerning urban development, environmental and mobility problems in Brussels
  • issues concerning district committees
  • issues concerning large, current dossiers like Thurn & Taxis and the European quarter
  • publications
  • retrieving information from our activity archives

Where does Bral come from?

The first residents' movements and nature associations originated from the fringes of the democratization movements of May 1968, and they include de Slag om de Marollen (the Battle over the Marollen), the residents' struggle against Manhattan square in the North district and the activist groups in Maalbeek valley. The first neighbourhood committees sprang up in their wake. In 1973, a number of Dutch-speaking Brusselaars decided to keep themselves directly involved in the development of their city.

Bral is one of four Belgian environmental federations and, in its battle for a livable city, it places a heavy accent on the fight against plans that threaten residential function and sometimes the entire residential district: the concentration of businesses around the North (train) Station, the extension of the European Parliament district, the advent of the high speed trains (HST) into the South (train) Station, the city cancers in the inner city…

How did Bral evolve?

Bral celebrates its 30th anniversary in 200(30)! A great deal has changed in the city that was sometimes called 'the city with 100 district committees' in the 1970s. Public discourse has recycled our demands of 30 years ago, even partly achieved them, and the city movement has evolved along with them.

Whereas in the beginning, a great deal of attention was focused on the protection of nature and of the traditional fabric of the city, in recent decades, the emphasis shifted to the quality of city life, with themes like resident participation, reducing garbage and socially-minded urban renewal. Accessibility also became a problem. Through the rising dualism, it becomes increasingly difficult to enjoy what the city has to offer. Issues like secure housing, safe cycling, and stopping through traffic as well as ensuring clean air and water are still very current.

After the Capital Region is established in 1989, Brussels develops an independent administration and legislation. This means maneuvering to catch up; finally, a legal framework is established for an environmental and urban development policy in Brussels. Bral becomes increasingly recognized as a consultation partner on various councils and is given important assignments such as disseminating information on the environment and urban planning, and regional coordination of the Week van Vervoering ('Mobility Week') with Car Free Day. Sister not-for-profit organizations focused on specific themes are also born, like the Brusselse Bond voor het Recht op Wonen (the Brussels Association for the Right to Housing) and the Natuur- en Milieueducatie Link Brussel (the Brussels Nature and Environmental Education Link).

During the 1990s, Bral took greater steps in local matters by cooperating with residents in the longer term on local city development projects in the field. Examples include preparing three district contracts in Sint-Joost-Ten Node and diagnosing vacancy and public space in the Maritiem district in Molenbeek.

Uit een reeks ronde tafels en brainstormings met terreinorganisaties distilleerdeBral de publicatie "Zero waste in Brussel, aanbevelingen van het terrein voor een dynamisch gewestelijk afvalbeleid".

In Europe, vital laws protect our most precious nature. Our wildlife and most valued natural places all depend on these rules. Sadly, right now the European Commission is considering undermining these laws, undoing years of progress. The European Commission is asking for our opinion and now is the time to make our voices heard.

Already more than 200.000 citizens across Europe have told the European Commission via its public consultation that they want to see the Birds and Habitats Directives maintained, better implemented and enforced. This is the biggest response to a European Commission public consultation in the history of the EU. Help mobilise even more people across Europe before the end of the consultation on 24 July 2015. We hope you can join us for the last few weeks of this campaign.

Link: https://www.naturealert.eu/en

With the launch of the Brussels Urban Living Lab in the Helmet neighbourhood in Schaarbeek, LOOPER has officially begun in Brussels! The aim of the living lab is to bring together citizens, stakeholders and policy-makers to learn how to address urban challenges in a participatory co-creation platform. The first Brussels meeting on 8 February introduced concerned citizens to the LOOPER project and allowed them to brainstorm about mobility problems as well as their solutions.

The first Brussels Urban Living Lab gathering kicked off with a presentation by MOBI researcher Mareile Wiegmann and Florence Lepoudre from bral.brussels. As a way of introduction, participants were asked to share a story about an object on their key chain. Some mentioned a memory of a holiday, where they bought their key chain. Others talked about their use of different modes of transport in the city, often sharing a story of how they saw mobility in Brussels. Others again spoke about the doors their keys opened, which allowed them to expand on where in Brussels they (had) lived, for how long, and where they were from.

The participants then discussed their mobility problems and solutions in subgroups. A shared concern of all participants was the imbalance in use of public space between different modes of transport. By reducing the number of cars in the streets and their speed, the Helmet area could become safer, more vibrant, and healthier.  An awareness campaign on speeding, reducing the maximum speed near sensitive areas such as schools, and promoting park and ride facilities at the edge of the city were suggested as possible solutions.  

In order to make the Brussels Urban Living Lab a success, solutions need to be discussed by a bigger and more diverse group of people. As a last assignment, participants brainstormed on which groups of people or institutions could become involved in this project. Their homework assignment was to spread the word about the Brussels Urban Living Lab in order to get more people involved.

If you are interested in joining this initiative, join us on Sunday 25 February from 11:00 to 15:00 at Café Babelmet in Schaarbeek. During this meeting, the problems that will be tackled in the Urban Living Lab will be further developed, as well as their possible solutions. For more information, contact Florence Lepoudre at florence@bral.brussels.

A report and picture by Jesse Pappers of the VUB

In general

BRAL considers your privacy to be very important. We treat the personal data you give us with care. We store and use your data in accordance with the provisions of the law on the protection of privacy at Belgian and European level. 

Your data will be processed by us: 

BRAL vzw
Zaterdagplein 13
1000 Brussels
Belgium
info[at]bral.brussels
0(032) 2 217 56 33
Company number: 0413.743.986 - RPR Brussels

You may always request the information we have about you, have it changed or removed. You can do this by making a simple demand. We will respond to your request as quickly as reasonably possible. We never share your information with third parties unless you give your explicit consent at our request. We can, however, bring people into contact with each other with us as intermediary.

BRAL takes measures to prevent third parties from abusing your personal data. If you suspect that third parties are using your data unlawfully via BRAL, please report this to us. If you have a complaint about how we use your personal data, you can report this, or to the Belgian Commission for the Protection of Privacy or to the data protection supervisory authority in your country of residence within the European Union.

It is possible that we will adjust or change our privacy policy in the future. We make these changes clear on this page. The latest update was on 17/05/2024.

Daily processing

When you send an email to BRAL('s staff), we never automatically subscribe to our newsletter BRALNEWS.

BRALNEWS

To subscribe to our trilingual newsletter, please fill in your name and e-mail address using the form on our website, or send an e-mail to info[at]bral.brussels. We only use this information for the newsletter BRALNEWS. We'll keep you up to date with the activities and views of BRAL and our members, and sometimes ask you for support for actions. After submitting your e-mail address, you will receive an e-mail to confirm your registration. You can confirm by clicking on the link in the e-mail. 

We process your data using the services of CiviCRM. They store your data on a server in Europe. We measure the number of readers and the number of clicks to statistically improve our newsletter.

You can unsubscribe at any time via a link in the newsletter or by asking info[at]bral.brussels. 

Press

If you send an email to BRAL, we will never automatically subscribe to our press releases. We can ask you the question and you can approve of it. You can subscribe to our press releases by sending a simple request to info[at]bral.brussels. You can unsubscribe via a link in the press release or by asking via info[at]bral.brussels.

We measure the number of readers and the number of clicks in the press release. We do not share your information with third parties unless you give your explicit consent at our request.

Members

BRAL is a member organisation. We keep members' personal data in a member register and process them for member administration. For this, we rely on article 18 of the Law on Associations and Foundations - 2 May 2002:

"The board of directors shall keep a register of members at the registered office of the association. This register shall include the full names and domicile of the members, or in the case of a legal person, the corporate name, legal form and address of the registered office. In addition, all decisions to admit, resign or expel members shall be entered in this register by the board of directors within eight days of the board's knowledge of the decision.” (own translation)

BRAL publishes the names of the members of the General Assembly on our website and in our annual report. We do this to show the support and network we have in Brussels. Future members will be asked whether they agree or not with putting their names in public. They have the right to disagree. Existing members may withdraw their approval at any time.

Donors

We keep personal details of donors, bank account number and a history of the deposits.

Cookies

The BRAL website uses cookies to remember your language preference. Your browser installs cookies to make a website easier to use. You can delete these cookies from your browser at all times. We use Matomo (formerly Piwik) to measure surfing behaviour on our website. We only analyse this data as anonymous statistics, not on an individual or personal level.

Photo and video processing 

BRAL respects the legislation on the portrait right (right on image). BRAL will always ask in closed circles for permission to take a picture of a person, and to publish or distribute it. We are not asking for permission when the law does not require it. It concerns:

  • Images in a public place when a person is in the public domain, and this person is not the main subject of the image;
  • Accidental persons in a public place;
  • People in a crowd;
  • Public persons. 

We ask for explicit permission if we want to use the image/video for, among other things: 

  • An illustration of an article on the website or in a newsletter.
  • An image in an online or printed informative publication / brochure
  • On social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram)
  • As a campaign image for a BRAL project

Provision to third parties

In order to achieve our goals, we have agreements with a number of third parties. We made agreements with them in order to secure your personal data. It concerns Exact Online, CLB, Aircasting and InfluencAir.

A number of large parties adapted their conditions of use so that they correspond with the GDPR compliant. These are Dropbox, Google (Google Drive / Google Forms / Gmail / ...), CiviCRM, Microsoft (Onedrive, Office365, Outlook, ...), Matomo (formerly Piwik).

We never disclose personal data to parties with whom we have not entered into a processor's agreement, unless required and permitted to do so by law. If you give us your consent, we may share your personal information with third parties. You may withdraw this permission at any time.

Minors

We do not process any personal data of minors (persons under 16 years of age).

Storage period

BRAL does not storage personal data for longer than is necessary, depending on the purpose and the law. The following retention periods apply:

  • Donors: 10 years
  • Newsletters: save for up to 3 years of inactivity
  • Network contacts and participants of projects: until someone invokes their rights or until we find out that the person is no longer exercising the function.

Data security

We have taken appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unlawful processing: 

  • All persons who can hear your details on behalf of BRAL are bound by the obligation of confidentiality.
  • We have a username and password policy on all our systems.
  • We encrypt personal data if there is reason to do so. 
  • We make backups of the personal data in order to be able to recover them in the event of physical or technical incidents.
  • We test and evaluate our measures on a regular basis.
  • Our employees have been informed about the importance of the protection of personal data.