Theme

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.

The Brussels Council for the Environment (Bral vzw) wants to involve expats in Brussels more closely in the urban planning decision-making in Brussels. For years, BRAL as a critical Brussels NGO has been providing the necessary up-to-date information about public inquiries and consultation committees on its website in Dutch. From today, and not by chance at the beginning of the European Year of the Citizen, that tool is also available in French and English.

Via the tool, you will be able to find background information, practical details and a selection of large and small current applications for permits in Brussels.

In 2013, 20 years have passed since European citizenship originated.  The EU treaties state that each citizen in the Union is entitled to certain rights, including among others the right to free travel and establishment in other member states. In these treaties, the EU citizens obtained the right to vote and be a candidate in European and local elections. 

It is no public secret that the citizens in the EU are often not aware of these rights. “And the same is true for the ten thousands of ‘expats’ living and working in Brussels. However, their involvement in the urban planning development of our capital is required”, according to Hilde Geens from Bral. She has been following the urban planning dossiers in the European Quarter in Brussels for decades. “In the neighbourhoods around the European institutions, the local expertise and interest of these residents could bring a high added value for a variety of reasons. The neighbourhood committees, which are active in the Leopold Quarter, have been searching for some time for ways to involve their EU neighbours in their actions. This trilingual tool is of course no panacea, but it will lower the threshold to participating in the Brussels’ decision-making.”

In future, the Bral website will provide detailed information in three languages (Dutch/FR/ENG) about how and where you will be able to participate in a public inquiry, in which way to best notify your objections to the policy-makers, and how to draft a notice of opposition. A click-through map of Brussels will take you also to all public inquiries in the 19 municipalities of Brussels as well as to Bral’s critical selection of public inquiries. The translations have been carried out with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation and the National Lottery. 

By means of this trilingual tool, Bral hopes that it will also be able to reach other non-Dutch speaking residents of Brussels. According to Geens “The classical Dutch speaking or even bilingual residents’ committees no longer exist in Brussels”. “Groups of residents respond increasingly to reality and they openly play the international card. In practice, this often means also multi-lingual communication. We would like to help them out by making our expertise now available in three languages.”

In the spring of 2013, BRAL will also publish the trilingual publication ‘Battle strategies – actions by inhabitants of the European Quarter in Brussels – from 1986 until the present’.

FIND THE TOOL HERE: PUBLIC INQUIRIES IN BRUSSELS

Contact :  Hilde Geens | Bral vzw // www.bralvzw.be // staff member urban planning and Europe // Place du Samedi 13 – 1000 Brussels | T 02 217 56 33 |

Hilde Geens (°1953) is senior staff member urban planning at BRAL. She has been working since the early eighties on the ‘European dossier’ and was deeply involved in all initiatives and actions described in this publication. To this day she follows closely the overall Brussels planning processes, and in particular the developments in the European Quarter.

The publication "Community Organisation in the European Quarter in Brussels - Strategies for struggle - from 1986 until today" is available in 3 languages (English, French, Dutch) and  can be downloaded here.

BRAL a Belgian NGO that aims at making Brussels more sustainable, demonstrated today in front of the European Council’s Justus Lipsius building (rue de la Loi 175, 1040 Brussels), Wednesday 16 from 11.30 a.m. as EU Environment Ministers to discuss air quality norms for 2030. The objective is to stress the urgency of taking strong measures to clean up the air we breathe and to push for stricter air quality limits.

This is the first time since dieselgate that ministers in charge of combating air pollution will meet to discuss solutions. They will have the opportunity to reverse the technical and opaque decision taken on 28 October to ensure that the law is respected and that the health of Europeans is protected.

On 28 October EU governments have agreed on a major weakening of limits for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from diesel cars, as well as postponed the implementation of new limits for all new cars until 2019. This allows cars to emit 210% more NOx than the EU air pollution standards (Euro 6) until 2020. And from 2021, all new cars will still be allowed to emit 50% more NOx than the Euro 6 limit of 80mg/km, permanently.

Member States will also decide new limits for dangerous air pollutants such as fine particles, NOx and ammonia for the next fifteen years. Documents show that Ministers are planning to significantly water down the limits proposed by the European Commission and they are proposing numerous flexibilities and accounting tricks to make air quality targets easier to hit [1]. They also suggest removing methane from the Directive, due to strong pressure from the intensive farming lobby.

According to a recent study by the European Environment Agency, 72, 000 premature deaths were caused by exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in 2012 in the EU. The inhalation of NO2  causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, even lung cancer, as well as prenatal and early childhood abnormalities. Diesel vehicles are the principal source of hazardous NO2 in urban areas throughout Europe.

Footnote: 

[1] Concil document: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15172-2015-INIT/en/pdf

The procedure has barely been changed since 1979

The basic principles of the system have been set out in the Brussels Town Planning Code (CoBAT. / BWRO)[i]. Its modalities have been set down in detail in several implementing decrees. However, the legal provisions of the Regional Land Use Plan (PRAS / GBP) determine in which case the prior advice of the consultation committee is required.

The system was introduced in March 1976 by Paul Van den Boeynants, who was minister of Brussels Affairs at that time, by means of the approval of the draft Regional Land Use Plan[ii]. The Royal Decree provided for the first time that in the case of certain building applications a public inquiry was to be held, which needed to be announced in advance by means of red posters, and in addition, it provided for obligatory advice from a municipal consultation committee.

A major difference compared to the situation today was that only written reactions of the public at large were allowed at the time. Only the representatives of employers and workers could request to make representations to the consultation committee. Legal recognition was required to provide others with the same statute. At present, any resident or user of the town may react, in writing or orally during the public hearing of the consultation committee.

When the Regional Land Use Plan was finally approved three years later, the procedure was amended by means of a new Royal Decree[iii]. That Decree dating from November 1979 is still the foundation for the present system[iv].

The regional development plan of 1979 cornered by large projects

The origin of the system of public inquiries and consultation committees needs to be viewed in reference to the spirit of the time. At that time, urban planning was still a federal matter.  The 1962 act determined the hierarchy of the plans. It was decided that for the 19 municipalities or communes of Brussels only a Land Use development plan would be established. The Regional Land Use Plan for the Brussels-Capital Region (1979) was elaborated under very difficult circumstances and therefore did not include the ambitious objectives that really were highly needed at the time.[v]

The type of Regional Land Use Plan that had been set down in law was suitable for Flanders and Wallonia, but it was not adapted to the very mixed and quickly changing city. Vague zoning indications such as residential, industrial or rural areas for instance were not accurate enough to control office developments.  Brussels developed its own system: instead of establishing zones with one single land use, zones were demarcated with a main land use and a number of secondary land uses that were limited in floor area. After a public inquiry and on condition that the consultation committee gave a positive opinion, these secondary land uses could be allocated a larger floor area under specific conditions.

The draft-Land Use Plan of 1976 was the first plan for Brussels that had an official statute. However, other plans had been elaborated before that time, such as the preliminary study of the draft-Regional Land Use Plan by the Alpha Group [vi] and the plan prepared by the research consultancy Thekné [vii] for the City of Brussels. Although these documents had no legal status and they were never subjected to an organised debate, they did have an impact. The largest demolition projects for Brussels were even inspired by those plans: the continuation of the motorways into the centre, the extreme separation of land uses, the Manhattan Plan for the North Quarter with its demolition and expropriations, the extension of the Justice Palace, the demolition in the neighbourhood of the Marolles, etc

These developments provoked a lot of popular protest; the most important examples of this were the fight by the inhabitants of the North Quarter and the Marolles. Against this background, various local committees and regional organisations like ARAU (Atelier de Recherche et d’Action Urbaines), Bral (Urban Mouvement for Brussels) and IEB (Inter-Environnement Bruxelles) saw the light of day. There was also quite a lot of resistance against those major demolition projects among the young administrations in Brussels.

One of the consequences of the first oil crisis during the mid-seventies was the delay or even scrapping of many of those large projects. Therefore, there was time for reflection. Within that context, the real Regional Development Plan was drawn up, from a clearly defensive and a literally conservative point of view, for the concern of the policymakers to stop or prevent large real estate projects was greater than their willingness to design a true vision of the future for Brussels.

Twofold purpose and two parts

It is important to point out that the purpose of the system of public inquiries and consultation committees is twofold. Most of all, the system is intended to be a planning tool, because the individual evaluation of a building application can control the execution of the proposals submitted. The second ambition is to effect a wider involvement of the local residents in the decision-making. It cannot be denied that the public nature of the policy for granting building permission is enhanced by the organisation of a public inquiry and the associated consultation committee.

The procedure itself can also be divided into two parts. The first part, the public inquiry focuses in particular on the input from the residents. Anyone, resident, commuter or visitor to the area, each association or enterprise is entitled to study the file of the application or the project of the design, without having to demonstrate his direct or indirect interest. Anyone is entitled to express his remarks to the members of the consultation committee, either in writing or orally.

The consultation committee constitutes the second part of the procedure, and it organises the consultation between the various administrations, semi-governmental services and the town council. The committee where the real consultation takes place meets behind closed doors. The public part, which also refers to the ‘consultation committee’, is formally no more than a hearing. Therefore, in contradiction to what its name suggests, the consultation committee is not an ultimate participative device, but a tool for providing information and a hearing.

[i] Art 6 and art 9 of the Brussels’ Town Planning Code (CoBAT /BWRO) decree of 9/4/2004 amended several times

[ii] 22/03/1976 – Royal Decree for the foundation of a consultation committee for local town planning for each commune of the Brussels Capital Region and for the regulation of disclosure in reference to the activities and building work, which are subject to prior consultation according to the provisions of the draft regional plan and the regional plan of the agglomeration of Brussels.

[iii] 05/11/1979 – Royal Decree setting out for the Brussels Capital Region which special rules of public disclosure need to be followed in reference to some applications for building and land development and including the organisation for each commune of the Brussels Capital Region of a consultation committee for local town planning.

[iv] 23/11/1993 – Decree of the Brussels Government for the procedure of public inquiries and the consultation committee

[v] More about the past history and the difficult elaboration of the Brussels Capital Region Development Plan (1979) (special edition of Brallerlei)

[vi] Structure plan Alpha Group 1947, characterised by a clear separation of land uses.

[vii] On behalf of the City of Brussels1962, the Research Consultancy Thekné drew up a plan for the pentagon, with an inner ring road around the historical centre and residential high-rises along approach roads. 

Recup’Kitchen is a project that will give pride of place to food reclamation in association with the Latinis vegetable garden. It will be located on the site of the old Josaphat train station. 

It will focus on local and/or organic products as well as unsold produce from the markets of Brussels. It will offer low-priced dishes (pay what you want with a recommended minimum) prepared in a mobile kitchen. It shows that alternatives for a "different consumption pattern" are possible.
It will also offer a chance to get together on the ground to dream, debate, cook, take a break, build bonds, etc. 
To do this, they need to purchase a caravan and collect the funds needed to convert it, using environmentally-friendly materials, second-hand furniture, etc.

RECUP’KITCHEN will also travel within Brussels to seek out other citizens’ initiatives. 

Interested? Join them! You can help them, offer your skills, donate spare furniture and materials and/or support the project financially. 
 

BRALpublication # 4 gives an overview and analysis of a new genereation of residents’ initiatives.

Imagine…
What would you propose for our vibrant community at the Josaphat site (not the park)?

We, as enthusiasts citizens, already created a social community garden, a sustainable kitchen and are building a collective structure to host our activities and workshops. Together we are temporarily using a part of the Josaphat site.

Which great ideas can you offer us to add to these activities?

We would like to open up to more interventions that respect Josaphat as:
- a natural environment,
- a common and integrated place,
- a laboratory, a workshop space,
- a circular and transitory use, and
- a serene and cosy atmosphere.

These ideas can show the richness of our collective creativity. We hope to get inspired. We hope to explore what is possible on this place.

In Brussels, Sint-Lucas (Faculty of Architecture KUL) collaborates with BRAL to test the potential of the Incubators platform.
We hope this tool can support citizen participation in the creation of public spaces.

At the feet of the Brussels European Parliament, on the other side of rue Vautier, the Wiertz Museum accommodates not only the work of Antoine Wiertz precursor of Belgian surrealism, but also houses the memory of Henry Conscience. The workshop, the house, the stairs, the porter’s house, the patio and the garden: all are intact witnesses of the cultural eclecticism at the time Europe’s nations were developing. Per request of the local residents, confronted with the overwhelming construction site of the Parliament, the whole has been classified on October 23, 1997.

After the European Administration privatized – against their prior promises – the classified swimming pool and theatre of the Résidence Palace nearby the Schuman;

  • when the laborious installation of the House of European History in the old Eastman Institute on the classified site of Parc Léopold made us witness the triumphant return of “façadisme’ in Brussels;
  • at a time we learn about a possible demolition/reconstruction of the parliament’s hemicycle – which is partly situated in the protected zone of the classified site of the Wiertz Museum;
  • at the moment a general reformation of the environmental planning of the region is weakening the protection of patrimony; and that a citizen movement stands up against it;
  • right when security issues are again weighing on the districts we still live in

the Associative Coordination devoting itself to the preservation of Parc Léopold has been informed that the Belgian Federal Public Service of Internal Affairs is preparing to cede the house of the artist and the garden to the European Parliament, at the price of a symbolical Euro. It also learned that one of the studied options plans on emptying the building ‘coté cour’ and raising a “provisional” large reception hall ‘coté jardin’. What pottering awaits us ahead of this?

However, the European Parliament has decided that the year 2018 would be dedicated to the Union’s cultural patrimony, since it’s an effective way to promote European citizenship. Is it reasonable then, to take on attitudes and projects that risk not only to affect the Brussels, Flemish, Belgian and European patrimony, but also to create a new discord with the citizens, starting with those who live closest to the Union’s institutions?

For this reason we ask the European Parliament and the Belgian Federal Government to accept to meet us. Together, we want to develop a project intending to create a better future for the Wiertz Museum, Parc Leopold and their direct surroundings, because the Wiertz Museum and Europe belong to us… as well!

A petition gathering over 4,000 signatures has been put online to make sure we are no longer ignored by the people forgetting that in our district, like in the whole of Europe, the citizens-residents-voters do not accept to be pushed out. We will hand it over to the European Parliament and the Belgian Government at the time of the meeting we’re looking forward to ‘mit brennender Sorge’ (with ardent concern).

Contact FR, IT, DE & EN : Marco Schmitt 0497 122 770 - NL & EN Toha De Brant 02 217 56 33