Banner Stadsvernieuwing is mensenwerk

On 28 April 2022, Minister Bart Somers, the Urban Policy team of the Agency for Domestic Administration (ABB), the Hannah-Arendt Institute (HAI) and Architecture Workroom Brussels (AWB) are organising the study day 'Urban Renewal & Urbanity 2002 -2022 - 2042'.


With this study day we aim at policy makers, experts in urbanity and urban policy, study bureaus or designers.
Over the past 20 years, our cities have undergone a tangible transformation. Successful urban renewal clearly increased the attractiveness, liveability and sustainability of our cities. In urban renewal projects, you see the integrated working on solutions being put into practice. Cities are the first to find answers to societal challenges, answers and challenges that are admittedly constantly evolving.


On this study day, we reflect on how to shape the city of tomorrow. To this end, we will build on the results of the project with the Hannah Arendt Institute, in which a renewed vision on urban renewal and urbanity is being developed. The exhibition 'Stadsvernieuwing is mensenwerk' (Urban renewal is the work of man) by Architecture Workroom Brussels looks back on 20 years of urban renewal and its significance for Flanders.

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WORKROOM

Since 2010, Architecture Workroom Brussels has focused on the future of our living environment. The organisation began as a safe haven to address the link between space and societal transitions, aimed at fostering a futureproof design practice, commissioning and building culture.

It has now become evident that the transformation of our streets, neighbourhoods, and landscapes is both a prerequisite and a lever for achieving societal goals in synergy. Yet we observe that these transformations remain difficult to imagine and implement. They span so many sectors and involve so many actors that responsibility falls on everyone, and therefore, ultimately, on no one.

That is why we make it our mission to create the space that connects them. And with this refined mission comes a new name: WORKROOM, House for transformation. WORKROOM is the shared space where the future of our living environment is not only imagined but also organised.

We are currently taking the lead on three mission-driven transformations:

  • SOCIETAL INCUBATORS - By 2030, stakeholders from the youth, culture, sports, care and education sectors will join forces to create renewed societal spaces that tackle loneliness and counteract the fragmentation and pressure on public infrastructure.
  • FOSSIL-FREE NEIGHBOURHOODS - By 2030, at least ten neighbourhoods will be underway with the transition to fossil-free energy in an inclusive and affordable way, with a view to completely phase-out fossil fuels by 2040.
  • SPONGE LANDSCAPES - By 2030, we will have achieved our water, agriculture and nature goals through a single, coherent approach at catchment area level, in which strong regional coalitions collectively enhance the landscape's sponge capacity.

To make these transformations a reality, WORKROOM works shoulder to shoulder with pioneering designers, local authorities, organisations and businesses, governments, knowledge institutions and impact investors.

Through co-creative design, we imagine shared pathways to the future in exhibitions, publications, innovation programmes and public programmes. These are the workrooms where we connect the actors capable of realising these transformations. From there, we design shared ownership and the organisational, funding and policy models that lead to real change.

The name is simpler. The stakes are higher. WORKROOM is the shared space where we tackle the social and spatial transformations that no one can achieve alone. In an era of polarisation, compartmentalisation and instability, that is perhaps the most radical thing we can do.