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In October 2021, 3,000 Brussels residents participated in the largest ever citizen survey on air quality in Brussels. Individuals, families, schools, businesses and organisations measured the NO2 at their windows for a month. They wanted to find out how healthy is the air they breathe every day in their street. The fact that the World Health Organisation has lowered its healthy limits based on new scientific evidence arouses curiosity all the more.
On Friday 18 March, six months after the start of the campaign, the moment of truth will come. That's when you will find out the results of the citizen survey.
BRAL is happy to invite you to an information session about CurieuzenAir in your neighbourhood. At this event, you can find out about the air quality in your district or street. Your most pressing questions will be answered. And you will be able to debate which measures could improve air quality.
Dates and venues:
CurieuzenAir reveals a striking disparity in air pollution levels across Brussels
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An interactive dot map with the results of all measurement points can be found on the websites of De Standaard, Le Soir and BRUZZ starting at 5 pm on Friday 18 March. The full scientific report can be found here |
- For one month, 3,000 Brussels residents mapped the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in their street, a key indicator of air pollution caused by traffic.
- CurieuzenAir's unique dataset shows in detail the impact of traffic, with socio-economically vulnerable neighbourhoods more likely to suffer from poor air quality.
- The dataset shows air quality in Brussels has improved, but there is still a major health impact.
-The CurieuzenAir findings not only provide detailed insights for Brussels, but also shows patterns and trends relevant for other European cities.
Between 25 September and 23 October 2021, 3,000 Brussels citizens participated in CurieuzenAir, the largest ever citizen science project on air quality in our capital. For one month, citizen scientists mapped the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) -- a key indicator of air pollution caused by traffic -- in their streets via measuring tubes on the facades of their homes. The project resulted in a unique dataset showing the impact of road traffic on air quality in Brussels in great detail. Results range from ‘excellent’ to ‘extremely poor’ air quality across Brussels, with a stark contrast in air quality between socio-economically vulnerable neighbourhoods and green, well-off ones. CurieuzenAir also brings good news: the data show that air quality in Brussels has improved considerably in recent years.
Significant and striking differences across Brussels
On the interactive dot map, each measuring point was assigned a colour corresponding to the value measured. While looking at the dotted map, it is striking that the air quality differs greatly from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, and even from street to street. From blue dots (0-15 µg m-3; 'very good') to a number of jet-black dots (>50 µg m-3; 'extremely bad'), the CurieuzenAir dataset makes it clear that these differences are explained by emissions from Brussels traffic.
The lowest NO2 concentration of 6.2 µg m-3was measured in the middle of the Sonian Forest, a location spared from traffic emissions. The lowest NO2 concentration in a residential area (8.1 µg m-3) was measured on a façade in the Vogelenzangstraat in Anderlecht. This is a remarkable measurement for an urban environment, where measured values below 10 µg m-3 are usually less frequent. This measurement value indicates that there are also residential areas in Brussels with very good air quality.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are also outliers. The highest value (60.5 µg µg m-3) was recorded along the busy Nieuwpoortlaan, and there are also measuring points along the inner ring road that exceed the limit of 50 µg m-3. These high values are explained by a combination of heavy traffic and little air circulation due to high-rise buildings. Olivier Brasseur, air quality expert at Brussels Environment, explains: "The highest nitrogen dioxide concentrations are reached in places with heavy traffic. These concentrations are amplified by a "canyon effect", the presence of buildings on either side of the street, which causes the pollutants to linger in the street, as it were. Surprisingly, there are different NO2 concentrations within one and the same street. This can be explained by the structure of the street, which gives more or less free rein to the wind in some places. In addition, stop-and-go traffic at intersections and traffic jams during the morning and evening rush hours cause increased emissions and high peaks. This translates into red and purple dots on the CurieuzenAir dot map.
Telecommuting and cleaner car fleet helping to improve air quality
Thanks to the large volume of CurieuzenAir data, Curieuzenair can estimate NO2 exposure for the entire population of Brussels. CurieuzenAir found that 1.4% of Brussels citizens – 17,000 people – are exposed to air quality exceeding the 40 µg/m3 European air quality standards. Additionally, 98.4% of the population - 1,200,000 inhabitants - live or work in areas exposed to pollution above the World Health Organization's new threshold value, above 10 µg m-3, showing the broad impact of air pollution on the community's public health.
"It is definitely not pleasant to hear that you live or work at a red location," says Professor Filip Meysman (UAntwerpen), coordinator of CurieuzenAir. "But that is also the purpose of our research: to make hotspots of air pollution visible and ensure that local policy makers can improve the traffic situation. On the other hand, we are surprised to see that this is a relatively small percentage. Only two years ago, it was estimated to be around 10%, and ten years ago, even half of the Brussels population was above the norm. The official measuring stations of Brussels Environment show the same declining trend. The air quality in Brussels is therefore clearly improving.” The researchers see a number of important explanations for the recent improvement. The corona effect caused telecommuting and thus less traffic during the measurement period. But the increasingly clean car fleet, higher bicycle use and the low-emission zone also play a role, and these are lasting effects. The CurieuzenAir data show that such measures do improve the quality of life in a large city.
Despite the encouraging measurement results, action is needed to improve air quality in the city. In September 2021, the World Health Organisation presented a new threshold value: above 10 µg m-3, the first health effects are noticeable. And that is quite sobering: based on the CurieuzenAir data, 98.4% of the population - or 1,200,000 inhabitants of Brussels - live or work in areas exposed to pollution above this health standard.
Alain Maron, Brussels Minister for Climate Transition, Environment, Social Affairs and Health: “CurieuzenAir is a great example of the importance of citizen science. Thanks to all the citizens that took part in the project, we collected unprecedented results on air pollution in Brussels, which help us to better understand the problem in our city. While we see that the situation is slowly improving, the concentrations measured still remain unacceptable, and call for urgent, in-depth action. We need to make sure that everyone in the city, wherever they live and whatever they earn, get to breathe a clean and healthy air.”
“We know that you can’t manage what you don’t measure—and this valuable data and research will enable the Brussels-Capital-Region, Brussels Environment, and civil society to combat this air pollution crisis,” said Antha Williams, who leads environment programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Tackling air pollution in Brussels will save lives, and will especially benefit the most vulnerable, including children and the elderly who are most susceptible to the harmful effects of poor air quality.
Good air quality is important for all inhabitants of Brussels
The CurieuzenAir dataset provides a very detailed picture of air quality in the various districts of Brussels. The NO2 concentrations show remarkable differences between neighbourhoods, streets and sometimes within the same street. Researchers from Université libre de Bruxelles placed the CurieuzenAir data alongside socio-economic characteristics of the various neighbourhoods. "What is striking is the difference in air quality between the orange and yellow dots in the centre and the blue-green periphery of Brussels," explains Dirk Jacobs, full professor in Sociology at ULB. "The three neighbourhoods with the best air quality in the region are located in Uccle and the three neighbourhoods with the highest NO2 concentration are found in the city centre and near the inner ring road." Neighbourhoods with a higher population density tend to score worse in terms of air quality. Moreover, the Curieuzenair data shows a clear link between income and air pollution exposure: the more deprived neighborhoods, the worse air quality is. "Ironically, this also means that in the neighbourhoods where car ownership per household is lower, the air quality is nevertheless worse because of the impact of nearby traffic".
"The results from CurieuzenAir show that the health effects for the people of Brussels are unevenly distributed. We are not all in the same boat," says Raf Pauly of BRAL, Brussels' urban movement, and a co-initiator of CurieuzenAir. "But the measurement result in your street is not equal to your own daily exposure. We only spend part of our time at home. People from the blue-green periphery also go to study, work or shop in the Vijfhoek. So we all have an interest in seeing the air quality across the whole of Brussels improve significantly and we need to work hard to achieve that."
CurieuzenAir is an initiative of the University of Antwerp, urban movement BRAL and Université libre de Bruxelles, in close cooperation with Brussels Environnement, De Standaard, Le Soir and BRUZZ. This program is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Brussels Clean Air Partnership.
From April 4 to 8, Toha De Brant, Yannick Schandené and Hanne Van Reusel were out and about in Florence, Italy for BRAL. They visited local practices of the commons and exchanged knowledge and experiences with other commoners as part of the Joint Staff Training Event for Commoning Europe in Campi di Bisenzio. Commoning Europe wants to rediscover the public good as the foundation of Europe. The project is co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union and aims to spread awareness on common goods and good practices in several countries.
During the Joint Staff Training Event managers, civil servants and citizens from five European countries (Italy, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands and Romania) join forces to foster commoning practices between public institutions and local governments. The commune of Campi di Bisenzio presented skilfully the experiences and practices on the countryside and the surroundings of Florence’s metropolitan area. After a short presentation of the programme, we let Hanne explain her takeaways.
Day 1
The group kicked-off with an introduction to the Commons regarding legal framework, private-public management, and regulation of the collaborations followed by a visit to Giardini Nidaici. The garden is a space for children in the city of Florence, managed by volunteers.
Day 2
Mondeggi was the second common good visit. It is located in the municipality of Bagno a Ripoli. The community pride themselves in the concept of ‘land of common good’. Free sharing of knowledge, local natural and sustainable farming are a few of their added values.
The group thereafter visited Lumen Firenze, an associative cultural space situated in a large green area of Florence. It represents an incubator of autonomous and sustainable economic dynamics, because it is a reference point for innovative projects, knowledge sharing, start-ups and new civic practices.
Day 3 & 4
After the visits, the group headed inside for round table sessions about common goods. They also learned about how to build an energy community thanks to the contribution of Legambiente Onlus - Comuni Rinnovabili – another Erasmus + project. In promoting energy communities as common good, they believe it can bring economic, environmental and social benefits to local communities.
Hanne Van Reusel’s feedback:
“As engaged commoner and member of BRAL, I joined this European commons exchange and training. Exploring the Metropolitan area of Florence and its commons, I am noting several takeaways:
- The importance of a national law / regional framework defining commons in order to provide leverage.
- The EU subsidiarity principles, acknowledging the role of the social sector and citizens have been written since ‘93, and acting since 2009. They provide ground for supporting commons initiatives also in Belgium and Brussels.
- Commons from the perspective of public administrations is about acknowledging active citizenship and valuing the diverse contributions they bring to the public and common good.
Gratitude to the wonderful team from CampoBisenzio, commoning_europe and bral.brussels. Partners in commons: fermenthingsbe tohadebrant And shout out to my @osmosnetwork that allows me to disappear, learn more and go and soak up some Italian sun 🙏”
Thank you for you attendence and contributions, Hanne, Toha and Yannick! Want to know more about the project Commoning Europe? Are you interested in discovering the good practices our partners and us have put in the spotlight? Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and the website www.commoning.eu!
Picnic the streets 10 years later
In June 2012, a giant unauthorized picnic took place on the Place de la Bourse. It led to a deep and irreversible change of the centre of our city. Ten years later, you are invited to celebrate this fantastic victory of civil society by picnicing on the same spot on Sunday 12 June from 12.30 onwards.
Before that, on Sunday 12 from 10 to 12, we shall reflect together at the Cinéma-Palace (Boulevard Anspach 85) on what preceded Picnic the Streets and what followed it all the way to the present situation, on the plans for the future of the surroundings, and on how, here and elsewhere, bottom-up movements can contribute to the reconquest of our public spaces.
Registration: free of charge but obligatory no later than 8 June
Programme of the meeting of 12 June 2012 (in French and Dutch)
Gerben VAN DEN ABBEELE (core group Picnic the Streets): From Streetsharing to Picnic the Streets
Joost VANDENBROELE (core group Picnic the Streets): 10 June 2012 and the reminder picnics
Fatima ZIBOUH (W100) : Le piétonnier comme espace d’inclusion radicale
Paul LIEVEVROUW (director SUM-Project): From the first plans to the real thing
Henri SIMONS (échevin de l’urbanisme Bxl 1995-2006): Pourquoi pas plus tôt?
Sofie VERMEULEN (Brussels Centre Observatory): The piétonnier’s main challenges
Bart DHONDT/ An DESCHEEMAEKER (schepen & chef cab mobiliteit Bxl): the new mobility plan
Nel VANDEVANNET (director Beurs-Bourse project): public & private plans for the Beurspalais
Sven LENAERTS (head CSR Immobel) : private plans for the piétonnier
Teresa EPALZA (Coordinator Heroes for Zero Molenbeek): Picnic the Bridge
Moderation: Nel VANDEVANNET & Philippe VAN PARIJS
Timeline of Picnic the Streets
Ten years ago, thousands of people picnicked here, without permission, in support of sustainable mobility and enjoyable immobility, and of an irreversible reconquest of our public space.
1. Background
25 June 1971: The English-language Brussels-based magazine The Bulletin organises a picnic on the Grand-Place in support of making it car-free. Parking on the Grand-Place was banned in March 1972, and all traffic from January 1991.
September 2000: NoMo-Autrement Mobile, a non-profit organisation made up of residents and academics, draws up a plan for a city centre with 50% fewer cars, including a pedestrianisation of the central lanes.
22 September 2000 - 27 September 2003: The "Street Sharing" collective supports the NoMo plan and mobilises once a year at the Place de la Bourse.
2003: Beliris, the federal body responsible for financing the functions of Brussels as a capital city, commissions a study on the transformation of the central lanes, including a reduction in car traffic from 4 to 2 lanes, and grants a budget. With no effect.
2004: The Brussels City Council approves a project to transform the central lanes, which is not carried out.
2. Picnic the Streets
24 May 2012: An opinion piece published under the title "Picnic the Streets" in Le Soir, Brussel deze Week and The Bulletin calls for civil disobedience in the form of a picnic on the Place de la Bourse every Sunday throughout the summer.
10 June 2012: Two to three thousand people participate in a giant picnic on the Place de la Bourse following a call disseminated mainly via FaceBook.
16 June 2012: Mayor Freddy Thielemans authorises picnics on the Place de la Bourse every Sunday lunchtime in July and August.
July 2012 - June 2015: Succession of reminder picnics organised at the Place de la Bourse by "Picnic the Streets".
3. From decision to implementation
14 October 2012: Local elections. Several parties promise a more or less significant pedestrianisation of the central lanes.
4 December 2012: The majority agreement of the new College of Mayor and Aldermen provides for the pedestrianisation of the Place de la Bourse, Place de Brouckère and Place Fontainas and a small section of Boulevard Anspach
31 January 2014: Presentation by Mayor Yvan Mayeur of the project "A new heart for Brussels", including the almost complete pedestrianisation of Boulevard Anspach between Place de Brouckère and Place Fontainas.
29 June 2015: Start of the test phase of the new mobility plan: Boulevard Anspach is pedestrianised on a trial basis between Place de Brouckère and Place Fontainas and equipped with temporary furniture in the public space
October 2015: The consultation commission grants planning permission to the pedestrianisation project introduced by the City of Brussels.
November 2015: Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, a curfew is imposed in the centre of Brussels, with a major impact on the vitality of the car-free zone.
February 2016: End of the test phase of the mobility plan, deemed conclusive by the City.
22 March 2016: Brussels attacks: mourners gather en masse in front of the Bourse.
September 2016: Start of the work on the central lanes, mainly financed by Beliris.
February 2019: Inauguration of the Bourse-Grand-Place premetro station
July 2021: Completion of the work on the central lanes
Help, the sewers are leaking! Every year huge volumes of wastewater flow directly into the canal and the Senne via the sewage overflows. This happens when it rains and in Belgium, it doesn’t just rain – il drache.
Canal it up has studied the problem thoroughly and they’ve come to the conclusion that there is only one solution to prevent pollution… We’ll just have to hold our pee and poo when it rains.
Why so? Because our pee and poo have to share the sewage pipes with invasive rainwater, and when it’s raining cats and dogs, as it so often is in our dear plat pays, the sewers overflow into the river and the canal – Adieu cats, dogs, pee and poo!
And so, to make sure that only rainwater overflows, we’ll just have to hold it when it rains. That’s the only way to finally get a clean river and canal.
To succeed, we’ll need every Brusseleir to participate. So, spread the word!
https://www.canalitup.org/hold-your-pee-and-poo/
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2022/05/12/ga-niet-naar-het-toilet-wanneer-het-regent/
Foto: Stadsbiografie, Roos Vandepitte
In L’Echo and BRUZZ, we read last week that the city and the region of Brussels have abandoned the tower fetish in the European quarter. The authorities have shifted their focus to renovate, add more public green spaces and facilities limit the burden of transit traffic and increase space for active mobility instead. Congratulations to all the citizens and associations who nudged our government in the right direction! We hope that the Urban Ruling announced by minister Smet will assure the necessary legislative aspects and that it can pave the way for other areas in our region – in co-creation with citizens, preferably?!
In other potentially good news: Brussels minister-president Vervoort announced that he wants to add an automatic, systemic percentage of public housing in the regional regulation on urbanism. He toys with the idea of 25 per cent ‘public’ housing per 100.000 square meters in a development. Mind you: ‘public’ can also mean ‘middle-class’. It is not ‘social’ housing per se! So it’s not quite yet the 25% social housing per 10.000 square meters as we proposed in our regional memorandum. Some nudging is still required ;-)
Together with the Belgian Housing Action Coalition, we asked for a systemic solution for the exuberant increases in rent in Brussels. There is an agreement that future rental contracts will need to add an indicative benchmark price. This means that, for the first time, the region recognises that it is forbidden for a landlord to charge an 'excessive' rent. However, Vervoort does not want to add more pressure to his current coalition partners on the question of rent control until the next elections come around in 2024. Quite a pity!
Pictures: Giulia Massenz
In the framework of the Summer Assembly 2030, the Super Terram team organised a 'dérive' - a semi-programmed exploration of an unknown terrain - on Schaerbeek-Formation. This derelict railway site - the largest open, undeveloped space in the Brussels Capital Region - is little known to Brussels citizens.
During this dérive, some thirty participants explored the site and experimented with alternative approaches to the urban soils it contains. Participants explored the terrain in eight stages. They went from point to point in groups, drawing inspiration from fragments of historical narratives, science fiction, archaeological notes, etc.
The result was a playful, creative and collective wandering from which alternative stories emerged for Schaerbeek-Formation as well as for life related to the soils that are there.
Open air quality data are a powerful, essential force to help us move towards clean air. The good thing is... thanks to projects such as Aircasting Brussels of BRAL and www.influencair.be, you as a citizen can help measure and map local pollution levels!
On March 3rd, Open Knowledge Belgium is organising a full-day event including talks and workshops on how to build your sensor and analyse, visualise and interpret open air quality data. This event aims to gather all different actors involved in the field of air quality and is absolutely open to everyone who wants to learn more about the topic.
Come and join us to learn, meet and discuss the power of open knowledge!
All the information on the event: https://cleanairwithopendata.eventbrite.co.uk/.
Who?
- Political persons: all deputies, advisors and specialists of political parties on health, mobility and environment;
- Citizens organizers of various Brussels Air groups;
- Citizen-experts on mob / health / governance on Air pollution.
What?
During our previous exchange - under the form of a speed date on 25/6, citizens listened to the initial ideas of Brussels political representatives. This time, the citizens will help the elected officials to identify following points of action:
- Strengthening of the existing regional framework;
- Legislative... and regulatory ideas for the next executive 2019-25;
- The position of Brussels in relation to the federal government;
- Essential cooperation between the regions and other levels of government;
- Visions and commitments for qualitative mobility;
- Prevention & health protection;
- Citizen involvement in air policy.
This is not a political debate, but a coaching. Citizens aren’t there to judge, but to help representatives to co-construct policies to improve the air quality in Brussels.
This meeting will be followed up by a public event in November, which will evaluate the official party programs for the regional elections in May 2018.
Are you interested to participate in this AIR Coaching? Please register for this event by contacting tim[a]bral.brussels or lievin[a]bral.brussels.
Both urbanism and architecture usually present the ground as an inert and technical surface, defined by the zenith point of view. While the soil is thick, grained, kept alive thanks to the activity of the many living beings that literally pass through it. Soil is more than the material with which our cities are built, or on which they are built. Soil is a critical dimension of the social production of space, inscribed in the history of places, and embodying a series of close links between social and biophysical systems through the food we eat, the water we drink, or the various substances it must absorb (from nutrients to gases whose abusive presence deregulates the environment).
The desire to organize this international encounter is based on recent ideas from ecofeminism and writings on urban metabolism. It wishes to unveil new possibilities to update our relationship to (non)living matter in and around us, so that we can go beyond the city-nature opposition and begin to inhabit a regime where we could be “many”, a collective of associations internalizing the environment. The encounter dwells on a selection of authors who try to think the ontologies and epistemology of a world more than human from the ground, feminists associated with the new materialism who consider the soil as the humus-world at the root of all means of subsistence (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2017; Cahn et al., 2018; Tsing, 2011), cartographers experimenting with potential soil maps (Ait-Touati et al., 2019), as well as researchers focusing on the soil composition of cities and the symptoms of an “accelerated metabolism” that needs to be revised (Barles et al., 1999; Misrach and Orff 2014). The symposium seeks to oppose them in order to understand what the consequences for our cities could be if we were ready to engage with the soil as a living matter, to avoid trivializing our relationship with the ground that would become the regurgitating foundation of the places we inhabit.
WHAT, SOIL?
21/09/2021 - 12h00-14h00
Speakers : Germain Meulemans & Lola Richelle
Mediator : Serge Kempeneers
SOIL : BEING MANY
22/09/2021 - 12h00-14h00
Speakers : Frédérique Aït-Touati & Koen Roygens
Mediator : Francisco Davila
SOIL CONSTITUENCIES
23/09/2021 - 12h00-14h00
Speakers : Claire Pentecost & Seth Denizen
Mediator : Bruno Notteboom
BEARING SOIL
24/09/2021 - 12h00-14h00
Speakers : Ken de Cooman & Yannick Devos
Mediator: Giulia Verga
OUR COMMON GROUND
24/09/2021 - 17h00-19h00
Closing debate with : Thomas Vilquin, Pauline Lefebvre, Sotiria Kornaropoulou, Benoît Burquel, Alice Paris, (tbc. Serge Kempeneers)
Mediator : Nadia Casabella
Organised by: Faculté d’Architecture La Cambre Horta, Laboratory Urbanism Infrastructure Ecology, ULB, BRAL
In the framework of the ‘Institution Building’ exhibition, in the chapter on Agency, Gideon Boie, Lieven De Cauter and CIVA organize an informal summit on activism in Brussels.
Activism represents the moment of real democracy in the city. It is the moment of true politics: when those who are not entitled to rule turn their noise into voice. Activism animates, performs and transforms public space. All these forms of activisms play out in the City somehow. To narrow down the broad field of activisms, the informal summit will focus on urban & architectural activism and bring together actors of these two forms of activism in Brussels. The City is the focus of urban activism: creating the urban commons. Architectural activism is rare, stemming from a discipline linked to money and power, and yet Brussels has shown an awakening in that field. Architectural activism is ideally reinventing the art of building, the city and the spaces we live in.
The aim of the summit is to deepen collaboration between the different actors and strengthen the unity in diversity of activisms in Brussels. We invite a few ‘very important players’ active in each of the two fields, but of course all of you, active citizens out there, are warmly invited to participate. We look forward to a memorable and lively debate.
11:00: Welcome
11:30–13:00: Urban activism
13:00-14:00: Lunch break
14:00-15:30: Architectural activism
16:00-17:00: The future of urban & architectural activism (conclusions)
17:00-18:00: Reception