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Brussels Breeding Places under construction

19. May 2023
Participatory workshop Breeding Places, April 2023

Twelve Breeding Places in Brussels are building on collaborations that reach further than solely a shared infrastructure. During participatory workshops in the spring of 2023, the Breeding Places got to know not only themselves better, but also each other.

In August 2021 the Flemish government launched the project call ‘Gemeenschapsinfrastructuur als Broedplek in Brussel’. The intention was to have organisations in Brussels find each other, focusing on interdisciplinarity. Ninety organisations showed their interest in sharing their infrastructure and setting up interdisciplinary collaborations. After a matchmaking, Architecture Workroom helped around thirty organisations to prepare their subsidy dossiers. In July 2022, twelve proposals for Breeding Places were approved – in 2023 we are supporting these Breeding Places in learning from the trajectory and from each other.

The next step of the trajectory was a series of participatory workshops which have taken place the past months in the physical location of four Breeding Places. During the workshops internal exchange took place between the partners of the Breeding Places, but also between each Breeding Place, to learn from each other’s process.

The sessions zoomed in to several topics. For example, what is the social-spatial embeddedness of each Breeding Place? Are they mainly directed towards internal links between the organisations that are settled in the Breeding Place, do they focus on reaching the neighbourhood, or maybe on specific groups of people spread throughout the whole city, or even outside, based on a shared interest? Additionally, we mapped which social-spatial building blocks contribute to each type of embeddedness. A Breeding Places focused on the neighbourhood, for example, needs a welcoming reception where people can meet, whereas a Breeding Place with a broader reach needs connectors with a good network within their organisation.

After gathering insights and more possibilities for the Breeding Places, we are working towards a meeting day in September 2023. During this day we will discuss insights and lessons learned during the current trajectory, to inspire not only the current Breeding Places, but also possible future community infrastructures in Brussels and 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.