Strengthening the social fabric.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The historic city centre makes room for colouring outside the lines

Repurposing symbolic heritage to host a society in transition

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

A temporary hangar gives a boost to local dynamics