A Happy Place:
: Dardaar

Brussels is a vibrant city of “super-diverse” citizens from different cultures and social backgrounds. One of its most historical but also popular neighbourhoods is the so-called “Marolles”. The district has always welcomed the most disadvantaged inhabitants of the capital but also those who aspire to freedom and art. It is a neighbourhood where the first citizen movement fought for a respectful renovation of the urban and social fabric. One third of the dwellings in the Marolles are social housings.

Through the action plan “Contrat de quartier durable Marolles”, that aims to improve the living environment in the neighborhood, (https://www.bruxelles.be/marolles) the city of Brussels launched a call for the socio-economic project ‘Valorisation of the Public Spaces’ in the open space of two social housing complexes, both managed by the institution of Brussels Housing (https://logementbruxellois.be/). Alive Architecture in collaboration with BRAVVO, the Prevention Service of the City of Brussels, won this competition. Together they developed the project in order to allow the inhabitants and other participants to re-appropriate the neglected Pieremans playground and generate use in the alleys of the Cité Hellemans.

Within this context Alive Architecture and BRAVVO co-transformed both sites into pleasant spaces where locals can meet and develop a sense of belonging.

Activities

While in 2021 the focus was upon co-producing transformations on the Pieremans playground, in 2022 the team expanded the project towards the alleys of the Cité Hellemans.

On the Pieremans playground, Alive Architecture and BRAVVO organized in total 10 events between April 2021 and September 2021.  During 4 co-design workshops in April 2021 they observed the needs and identified the desires of the inhabitants and the opportunities that the site offered. During 5 co-production workshops between June 2021 and August 2021 they painted the ground and constructed a temporary gate to test this option to avoid children running on the street. On Wednesday 29.9.2021 the inauguration of the first phase of the project took place. In 2022 some permanent transformations on the Pieremans Playground were realized, building upon the participative process that took place there in 2021.

In the alleys of the 'Cité Hellemans', the team organized in total 9 activities of which 4 took place in April and 4 taook place in June, focussing upon the ‘Cité Hellemans’. Given the protected character of the site (it is part of a historical heritage), the activities organized here in 2022 are temporary. Therefore, besides some balcony planters, the interventions do not leave a permanent trace in the alleys.

On Friday 24.06.2022 the final inauguration of the project took place on both sides. The event gave a context for AJointPlace. As such most of the A-Place partners joined the inauguration.

Objectives

In accordance with the objectives of the A-Place project, the purpose of the planned activities is:

To develop and apply creative placemaking practices that allowed for the reappropriation of the Pieremans playground and the streets of Cité Hellemans. A process of co-design and co-production allowed participants to generate a feeling of belonging. As such the creativity had a role throughout the process as well as in the output that aimed to change the image of the site from an underused space into a user-friendly space with a specific focus on children and their parents.

To enhances intercultural dialogue between inhabitants, more specifically of the children, their parents and the young population inhabiting the social housing complexes. The team intended to co-construct the interventions for the children together with them but also with the young population of the district. This approach generated encounter and respect between both and as such transformed the playground during the process into a space of encounter among people from different generations.

To generate capacity building by involving the children as well as young generation into the socio-urban transformation, first during the process of co-design and later the co-construction of the project. Those were be painting on the ground and walls, co-constructing urban furniture and planting balcony planters and an urban garden.

To contribute to generate links with partners. First of all, AHappyPlace generated a link on the topic of play that was investigated by the partner Prostoroz through their activity in Ljubljana in 2021. An additional link are the activities dedicated to planting and as such connect to the collective socio-spatial activity that is investigated by the partner Urban Guerillas through their approach of placemaking within the A-Place project. Finally, the team welcomed the A-Place partners in Brussels for the inauguration on 24.6.2022 and as such created a framework for the Joint Place 2022 in Brussels.