NLENFR
  • Future Place
  • Affordable Dwellings
  • Buffer Brooks
  • Caring Neighbourhoods
  • Circular Material Hubs
  • Climate Streets
  • Community Engines
  • Energy Districts
  • Flow Collectors
  • Food Land
  • Learning and Making Hubs
  • Theme
  • biodiversity
  • care
  • circularity
  • community
  • energy
  • food
  • housing
  • learning
  • making industry
  • management
  • mobility
  • water
  • Innovative aspects
  • cultural change
  • financing
  • good citizenship
  • organisational form
  • ownership
  • participation
  • policy innovation
  • solidarity
  • temporary use
  • Scale
  • building
  • district
  • interregional
  • municipality
  • region
  • site
  • street
building blocks

3 Fonteinen

food
A brewery becomes a test bed for the reintroduction of a forgotten crop

Anders Mobiel

mobility
Understanding and changing mobility demand within micro-centralities

ART BASICS FOR CHILDREN

cultural change
Art Basics for Children (ABC) vzw is positioned at the interface between art and education. It is a laboratory for aesthetic experience and artistic awareness and creative development. The ABC House in Schaarbeek is an open and dynamic research centre focusing on art, culture and education, intended for school classes, families, trainee teachers, supervisors of youth workshops, employees of museums and libraries, both from the neighbourhood and the wider surroundings.

Atelier Groot Eiland

making industry learning biodiversity circularity food care organisational form solidarity good citizenship cultural change financing
Atelier Groot Eiland aims to support as many Brussels residents as possible who are seriously distanced from the labour market in their search for work and professional (re)integration. The organisation offers work experience, pre-training, employment support and job coaching in learning workshops in order to further develop the skills of its employees. Local production and sustainability go hand in hand with social entrepreneurship. The initiators of Atelier Groot Eiland are using this approach to tackle the high rate of unemployment and to combat poverty from their home base in Molenbeek.

AZ ZENO

care management food cultural change financing
Patients at AZ Zeno hospital are served fresh vegetables directly from the field! The hospital opts for a substantial share of locally harvested, healthy and fresh food via a structural agreement with a nearby farm. As a result, AZ Zeno is helping to safeguard the future of local food production.

Blikfabriek

community solidarity organisational form temporary use
The Blikfabriek is emerging as a socio-cultural meeting place, local breeding ground and creative incubator in the twilight zone between a new part of the city and the existing working-class neighbourhoods in Hoboken, Antwerp. The transformation of the former industrial site has been underway since 2018, via a temporary purpose offering space for innovative practices, neighbourhood initiatives, culture, sport and greenery.

BoerenBruxselPaysans

care biodiversity management mobility food good citizenship solidarity cultural change policy innovation financing
BoerenBruxselPaysans uses public land and resources to provide new local farmers, or those converting their business, with the space required to experiment and innovate. The project is a crucial component of Good Food, the Brussels strategy to provide every Brussels resident with access to local, wholesome and good quality food in a healthy and qualitative urban landscape. Public land on the outskirts of the city literally provides the ‘free space’ for developing entrepreneurship related to local food production.

Borluut Living Garden – Ghent Living Gardens

management housing mobility ownership good citizenship policy innovation cultural change solidarity
Since 2012, Ghent has been experimenting with the Living Streets programme on how an alternative street layout can create a stronger neighbourhood feeling. In 2020, the temporary living streets were expanded to include three living gardens. A living garden, just like a living street, is always created at the initiative of the local residents. The living garden at Borluut, a social housing block on Watersportbaan, was supported by the city in cooperation with Samenlevingsopbouw vzw.

Brabo I

energy organisational form
An architecture office becomes mediator to enrol residents in a renovation strategy

Broei vzw

making industry learning circularity community organisational form good citizenship financing
Broei is an open ‘thinking and doing’ place for the new generation: a breeding ground where young people have the chance to develop their talents. Young people looking for opportunities are given a place here to 'try something' and experiment together in the historic Duivelsteen. Broei vzw aims to bring a new dynamic to Ghent city centre.

Brussels Northern Quarter Energy Coordination Platform

energy organisational form policy innovation
The aim of the Coordination Platform is to bring together and put into use the tools, funds and stakeholders in order to make the Brussels Northern Quarter a Positive Energy District (PED). This body must develop a vision for the district as a whole and coordinate the various individual energy projects.

Brutopia

housing ownership financing
A coalition of residents takes matters into their own hands for their affordable house

Buda Factory

making industry learning ownership cultural change
The conversion of a former textile factory into the Buda Factory represents the final chapter of the transformation of Buda Island into an arts island. The Buda Factory is an economic-artistic workshop and operates at the interface between art and design, economy and education, and science and technology. Entrepreneurs, students, artists, scientists and active citizens come together to meet and work (collaborate) on artistic projects or innovative products.

Campus Atelier

community participation solidarity cultural change temporary use
Campus Atelier is an open cooperative design atelier in the Nieuw Gent district. Together with local residents, schoolchildren, neighbourhood organisations and passers-by, the initiators of Campus Atelier go in search of public space in an urban fabric struggling with privatisation, commercialisation, segregation and gentrification. They 'find' that public space and afford it (temporary) meaning by transforming empty buildings into collaborative workplaces, by rethinking existing (semi-)public spaces, and especially by crossing current urban boundaries.

Ceci n’est pas une ferme

community biodiversity food
A multipurpose farm gives a new agricultural approach a place in the city

Commons lab, Antwerp

management biodiversity energy housing mobility water care ownership financing organisational form good citizenship solidarity cultural change
Commons Lab Antwerp can be viewed as the spider in the web of a multitude of initiatives in Antwerp carried out by citizens, government, businesses and knowledge institutions. The collective focuses on involvement within a broad theme and a sense of urgency, with the key question: to whom does the city belong, and how can we all manage the city together?

Dakparkschool

energy ownership
A school as a catalyst to engage the surrounding streets in the energy transition

Dampoort KnapT OP!

energy financing solidarity
In the Dampoort KnapT OP! project the OCMW set up a rolling fund to ensure vulnerable families can also carry out the necessary energy renovation work.

De Fierenshoven

energy housing policy innovation
By reallocating public heritage, the city keeps rents in check

De Korenbloem

community care
Old and new, private and public are intertwined in a neighbourhood care campus

De Landgenoten

housing care biodiversity food cultural change solidarity policy innovation good citizenship financing
The aim of De Landgenoten is to safeguard land for long-term food production. It achieves this by purchasing agricultural land with money from shareholders, donors and occasional income. De Landgenoten subsequently leases the agricultural land to (organic) farmers, via career-long contracts.

De Nieuwe Dokken

energy ownership organisational form
A district’s residents share ownership of their energy infrastructure

De Zwarte Beek

water management biodiversity policy innovation
Limburg’s Zwarte Beek is one of the most important river valleys in Flanders. The unique, peat-rich area has a great variety of vegetation and (endangered) animal species. Management of the river aims to safeguard and restore the peat bog, which plays an important role in CO2 capture.

Den Dries

housing care community financing solidarity cultural change
The residential development project by Den Dries vzw provides an ideal location in the city for people with severe support needs. The inclusive and mixed housing project in an urban setting will provide homes for people with and without disabilities in the same residential district in Evergem. The housing project focuses on the extensive socialisation of care and thus abandons the concept of a traditional care campus as an island adrift from everyday life.

D’Ieteren Immo Mobilis

mobility cultural change
A garage with a flexible structure survives beyond its current programme

Eau de Couture

community management food water temporary use participation
Water as a lever to build a cohesive community

Edegemsesteenweg, Kontich

mobility biodiversity water cultural change
Planned sewerage works prompted a total revamp of the Edegemsesteenweg, including a park and two school zones. Water that was previously drained invisibly underground is now afforded a very prominent place in the street scene. A number of obstacles had to be overcome to achieve this.

Energent

energy financing
Energent invests money from its cooperative members in renewable energy projects and in achieving energy savings. In addition, the organisation is committed to providing related energy services to mobilise and unburden citizens.

Evence Coppéelaan, Genk

mobility housing cultural change
In the 'Vlaanderen Breekt Uit' programme, Evence Coppéelaan was the only entry in which a concrete road was completely desealed. The road will be transformed into a pleasant, experiential and traffic-safe environment. No less than 10,000 m2 of asphalt will disappear in the process.

Filter Café Filtré Atelier vzw

mobility care good citizenship cultural change organisational form solidarity
In 2018, continued insight into the harmful effects of air pollution on our health gave rise to mass campaigns by parents, schools and children in Brussels and Flanders against unsafe and unhealthy school environments. With actions, from school gates to the A12 motorway and the Brouckèreplein, Filter Café put air quality on the political agenda.In 2019, the non-profit organisation of the same name was created, which continues to work with its Atelier on the constructive representation of a car-free, liveable and climate-proof city.

Garden Streets Antwerp - Lange Ridderstraat

management biodiversity housing mobility water good citizenship policy innovation cultural change
Garden Streets Antwerp is part of a broad vision to turn the city into a climate-resilient, high-quality environment. The garden street also promotes social interaction in the street. After an initial phase of pilot projects, the city is elevating its ambitions to the permanent green-blue transformation of streets in five Antwerp districts.

Godshuis van Sint-Amands

community care
A service centre as a meeting point between care home and village

Groenklimaatassen

biodiversity mobility water
Green routes reconnecting the city and landscape

Herenboeren

food biodiversity cultural change solidarity good citizenship financing
On a Herenboerderij consumers invest in their own food supply. Citizens-Herenboeren join forces to collectively purchase or lease agricultural land. They recruit a farmer to run the business and together they determine what food will be grown and how. The farm is thus a business run by local residents.

Het Bolhuis

circularity biodiversity management food
At Het Bolhuis the production of organic beef and lamb goes hand in hand with extensive grassland management. The connection between nature and agriculture focuses on biodiversity and preserving soil quality. It constitutes the foundation for the business model’s profitability.

Het Zilverleen

food financing
Het Zilverleen is an organic vegetable farm owned by the supermarket chain Colruyt Group. As a result of the takeover Colruyt Group is anchoring the local supply of organic vegetables for its own supermarket chain by means of an innovative and sustainable cooperation model with the organic farmer.

Homborchveld

housing
A garden suburb in the periphery becomes a mixed, dense fabric

House for Seasonal Neighbours

community food
Making space for encounter in the temporary reality of seasonal workers

House of Time

community participation
The historic city centre makes room for colouring outside the lines

Hub Holland

mobility
Community hubs link mobility to community functions in smaller centres

Huis Perrekes

community care
A care home embedded in an everyday environment

Impact Factory

learning circularity making industry ownership financing
A circular hub, co-funded by citizens

Innovation Powerhouse

making industry organisational form
Exchange between companies and organizations in a creative hub

Klimaan

energy solidarity financing
Klimaan is an example of a cooperative that uses citizens’ capital to invest in renewable energy as well as in other commons such as water, land or air. Klimaan is a regional community with locally-anchored subgroups.

Lab15

circularity making industry
A new architectural language for manufacturing in the city

LEAP Bospolder-Tussendijken

energy solidarity policy innovation good citizenship
A coordinated approach for a Local Energy Action Plan in the Rotterdam district of Bospolder-Tussendijken is using the energy transition as a means to improve the whole district's standard of living.

Lijnbaanstraat, Ostend - Cool Towns

water biodiversity mobility policy innovation organisational form cultural change
Today, Lijnbaanstraat, an extensively paved and unattractive car park in the commercial centre of Ostend, is being transformed into a green oasis. The street thus not only serves as an appealing garden for city dwellers, but is also an important asset for combating heat stress. The project is part of the European Cool Towns project.

Makerswijk Arsenaal

community making industry organisational form temporary use
A former repair yard becomes a new productive neighbourhood

Max-sur-Zenne

biodiversity water participation
When water comes to the surface and biodiversity revives

Molenwest Square

community circularity participation temporary use
A temporary hangar gives a boost to local dynamics

N9 road verge, Eeklo

biodiversity mobility cultural change
The N9 is an arterial route running right through Eeklo and is the first thing visitors see when travelling to the city. The bare appearance of the road verge and the redevelopment of the mobility plan prompted the city council to take over ownership and management of the road verge from the Roads and Traffic Agency (AWV).

Natural Gas-Free Districts Programme

energy organisational form cultural change policy innovation
By 2050, the Netherlands aims to be natural gas-free. The Natural Gas-Free Districts Programme is a supra-local programme that unites several local test sites to draw collective lessons, and set in motion the replication of natural gas-free (energy) districts.

Neighbourhood Kitchens

community solidarity participation good citizenship
The Buurtkeukens citizen movement advocates for a fair, sustainable and healthy food system. The Buurtkeukens movement guides and brings together groups of citizens who make a concerted effort to prepare daily meals for themselves and their entourage, with or without the help of established organisations. Buurtkeukens aims to create spaces where people can live side-by-side once more.

New Administrative Centre in Braaschaat

energy management policy innovation
In the New Administrative Centre in Braaschaat pruning waste from the municipality is used to heat the town hall.

Nos Bambins

energy organisational form solidarity ownership
The pilot project ‘Nos Bambins’ in Ganshoren shares the power generated by solar panels on the roof of a school with several neighbours in the street, making it one of the first energy communities in Brussels.

Observatory

biodiversity water
An observatory to better see the natural environment

OCMW and City of Lier Social Policy

care housing learning policy innovation solidarity
The City of Lier and OCMW Lier built a care campus around Het Schoppeke local service centre in the urban centre of Lier: the site combines large educational facilities, adapted housing for the elderly and other services. OCMW and the City of Lier wanted to create a part of the city where the demand for care for the elderly and the care provided by students would come together to provide informal and intergenerational neighbourhood care.

Oud-Heverlee district battery

energy good citizenship
The first district battery in Oud-Heverlee demonstrates that energy storage at district level to eliminate generation peaks and unburden the electricity grid, can evolve into an innovative and collective district project.

Paddenbroek

biodiversity learning food
Repurposing agricultural heritage for an education centre on food and nature

Parckfarm

community
With Parckfarm, a new typology of public space is taking shape in the former abandoned railway valley behind Tour & Taxis - now a fully-fledged city park. It combines the characteristics of a 'lived' or convivial city park with local micro-urban farming. Together with local residents, artists, farmers and designers, the initiators of Parckfarm want to reclaim the green public space for residents as an urban commons. The initiators of Parckfarm vzw aim to exert a sustainable impact on the strategic development of the site.

Park & Ride

mobility
Recognizable wooden interchanges along the city’s ring road

Place Marie Jansonplein

community biodiversity mobility water participation
Square becomes park in a water-retention strategy between high and low

Recypark

community circularity management
The recycling of waste and materials forms the background for new public spaces

Rotterdam Makers District

learning making industry energy circularity policy innovation
The Municipality of Rotterdam and the Port of Rotterdam are committed to the redevelopment of part of the city port to create the Rotterdam Makers District: a mixed city port area that combines living, working, manufacturing and learning, and profiles itself as a testing ground for the innovative manufacturing industry. The Rotterdam Makers District is being developed on both sides of the Maas, in the areas of RDM Rotterdam and the Merwe-Vierhavensgebied (M4H Rotterdam).

School environment Elzestraat, St. Katelijne-Waver

mobility cultural change
The Elzestraat in St. Katelijne-Waver is the village’s central street, with a church, parish hall, catering establishments and a school. The public space largely focused on the flow of vehicular traffic, with school-aged children navigating their way in the margins. A large-scale renovation of the village centre revamped the school environment and transformed Elzestraat from a transit area to a residential area.

Selwerd District Company

housing care management learning community organisational form cultural change policy innovation good citizenship ownership
In the district of Selwerd in Groningen, various innovative initiatives are underway aimed at the district’s social and physical renewal. The Selwerd District Company takes on a special role in this respect by focusing on care in the broad sense of the word. The District Company stands for an approach to care provided by and for the district’s residents.

St. Cornelius Church

community participation
Repurposing symbolic heritage to host a society in transition

SunGilles / Vlogaert

energy good citizenship ownership solidarity financing
In the SunGilles housing block tenants are involved in sharing the energy generated on the roof. This pilot project demonstrates how people without any capital can participate in an energy community.

T2 Campus Genk

learning making industry energy policy innovation cultural change financing
The T2 Campus on the Thor site in Genk is a hub for engineering and technology of the future with a practice-oriented range of training courses, activities and infrastructure for students, employees, entrepreneurs and jobseekers. T2 campus profiles itself as an incubator of technological know-how and connects talent, education, innovation and the business community with each other, and with the city.

The Standaert site

community participation temporary use
The inner area of a block becomes community space at the initiative of the neighbourhood

Timelab

learning making industry organisational form
A flexible workplace for an urban micro-ecosystem

Tivoli

housing ownership financing
By separating the land ownership from that of the building, living remains affordable

Toestand - Allee Du Kaai

community organisational form participation temporary use
In 2022, a new park will be created on the Materialenkaai opposite Tour & Taxis in the Brussels Canal Zone. Allée du Kaai was created in 2014 as a temporary project in anticipation of the redevelopment of this zone. At the request of Brussels Environment, Toestand vzw is focusing on the development of a social dynamic in the district as a stepping stone towards the future permanent redevelopment of the site.

Tuinen van Stene

water food
A new park typology with the potential to activate an urban food strategy

van Hoorebeke Timber

circularity making industry
Logistical flows and activities determine the architecture of a reception building

Verbiest

energy
A renovation that thoroughly questions habits

Villa Voortman

care community cultural change organisational form financing
Villa Voortman is a meeting place in Ghent for people with a combined problem of substance abuse and psychological difficulties. This group of people with dual diagnosis often falls between the cracks in the range of standard support on offer. By focusing on a safe space for meeting, creativity, communal care and local anchoring, Villa Voortman lowers the threshold to support this group.

Warmtenet Eeklo (Eeklo Heat Grid)

energy organisational form ownership policy innovation financing
The Municipality of Eeklo is taking the lead in Belgium with the construction of its heat grid. The heat grid is not only the largest in the country, but is also controlled by citizens.

Waterrijk Waterschei

community water management good citizenship participation
Buffering water in gardens, streets and squares relieves the burden on sewer systems

Wattson

energy financing
Wattson is a Belgian ESCO (Energy Service Company). The company focuses on the integral renovation of projects, which combine several energy-saving measures with installing renewable energy. Wattson makes the investments, which are repaid using the budget freed up as a result of the lower energy bills.

Werve Hoef

housing food mobility biodiversity management cultural change good citizenship financing
The old Wijnegem farm ‘De Werve Hoef’ is being restored to its former glory as a neighbourhood farm, with the development of a new, adjacent residential district. De Werve Hoef brings short chain farming to the outskirts of the city and embeds the new district in a sustainable, productive landscape. Housing development and farming are not necessarily irreconcilable.

WeSmart

energy organisational form cultural change policy innovation
WeSmart's digital community dashboard enables energy communities to consult their energy generation and consumption in real time, so they can take smart decisions and thus optimise their energy bills.

Woluwe Waterland

biodiversity water participation
Water and urbanization meet in new water districts

Xenia House Leiden

care housing financing cultural change
In the Netherlands, the options available to young people aged between 16 and 40 who require intensive or palliative nursing and medical care include the traditional hospices outside the city, where the average life expectancy is three months and the average age is eighty. Or... the Xenia House, a guest house and hospice for young people in the centre of Leiden.

Zonnelied

community care
The care home's garden meadow becomes a new village square