Project

Wij Zijn Ruimte

‘Wij Zijn Ruimte’ is an educational package on the sustainable use of space, aimed at schools, community groups and local governments. It was developed through a collaboration involving GoodPlanet, Commons Lab, Antwerp University and AWB, with the support of the Flemish Government Department of the Environment. How can we view our neighbourhood from a different perspective? To whom does space belong? How can we make it more appealing, healthy and climate-friendly? ‘Wij zijn Ruimte’ focuses on providing schools and community groups with the tools to address these questions. AWB illustrated the ‘Wij Zijn Ruimte’ game and developed a booklet to provide inspiration on the sustainable use of space that serves as background information for teachers, children and neighbourhood organisations.


 

Space is a scarce commodity in Flanders. A third of our space is already in use and a further six acres are built on every day, increasing the pressure on our environment. This has far-reaching consequences for biodiversity, water management and our climate. We want to use ‘Wij Zijn Ruimte’ to invite everyone to collectively view the available space from a different perspective and take concrete steps towards a sustainable environment that offers a good quality of life.

‘Wij Zijn Ruimte’ is aimed at schools, community groups and municipalities that want to rethink their surroundings. The project provides tools and activities that allow participants to jointly explore how space can be designed to be more suitable, greener and healthier. Groups work step by step to achieve tangible results in a playful, participatory approach. Whether it concerns a green playground, a community garden or improved water management, the project provides the tools to make a difference at the local level.

You can download the packages for free from the GoodPlanet website. Would you like support for this project in order to increase its impact? If so, get in touch with GoodPlanet. GoodPlanet and Commons Lab are at your service to develop spatial policies that benefit from greater support, to raise awareness among people of all ages and to build relationships between schools and their neighbourhoods.

Year: 2024

Commissioning party: Good Planet

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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.