Organisation of participatory workcamps in the Pequeur square in Anderlecht (a dense, popular and highly mineralised district), in order to create links, raise awareness of ecology, improve the quality of life for humans and non-humans alike and transform it into a resilient ecosystem. The workcamps consisted mainly of the demineralise 10 tree pits in order to enlarge them, with soil regeneration and collective planting, as well as the creation of protective furniture (infiltration barriers)
Local
Belgium
Municipality of Anderlecht
Brussels Region (Brussels Mobility and Innoviris)
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-06-30
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Less béton asbl Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Laetitia Last name of representative: Cloostermans Gender: Female Nationality: Belgium Function: Coordinator Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: André Hennebicq street 43 Town: Brussels Postal code: 1060 Country: Belgium Direct Tel:+32 486 21 37 64 E-mail:laetitia.cloostermans@lessbeton.be Website:http://www.lessbeton.be/
The Université Populaire d'Anderlecht (UPA), whose premises are located next to the Square Pequeur, called Less béton for a partnership in the framework of the Heyvaert-Poincaré Urban Renovation Contract (CRU).
In 2020, we carried out a joint diagnostic phase with the inhabitants and users of the neighbourhood in order to highlight their needs and desires for the square.
These expectations included more nature. Less béton proposed participatory workcamps to enlarge the tree pits in the square and thus have the opportunity to plant them and improve their worrying health status.
In 2021, 4 tree pits were enlarged by removing 8m2 of concrete.
In addition to this, we worked with the non-profit organisation Recyclart to build infiltration barriers (which also serve as a refuge for insects) and to install two rainwater harvesting barrels near the electric booth in the centre of the square. This was to water the new plantings and support the urban agriculture already in place around the cabin. We also installed 4 devices (cables etc.) for climbing plants and planted a series of small fruit trees with the inhabitants.
In the spring of 2022, 6 pits were completely refurbished (demineralisation, amendment, planting and protection) and, notably with the help of children from the UPA's school support programme - as part of a climate project supported by Innoviris - we installed nesting boxes for sparrows and titmice as well as devices for insects. The whole thing ended with a big party mixing brass band and art on the electric cabin (following a call for project whose theme was the biodiversity of the square to be highlighted).
The aim is for the Square Pequeur to become a pleasant, reappropriated place, conducive to the development of biodiversity, but also a place of permanent education.
(Re)Ownership
Resilience
Participation
Reconnection
Learning
The very principle of participatory demineralisation worksites is a simple and sustainable action, as it has multiple and complementary effects.
Indeed, removing concrete in order to recreate an open and living soil contributes to the well-being of humans and non-humans, to a better health/quality of life, to more autonomy (access to land to cultivate) and allows to fight against the effects of climate change and against the collapse of biodiversity. In concrete terms, we are also restoring and enhancing nature in the city in neighbourhoods that are highly affected by the urban heat index. Finally, a living soil captures three times more carbon than the atmosphere and absorbs rainwater. This project is therefore particularly sustainable, because whatever happens, the concrete is permanently removed and even if plants are grazed, the area can be spontaneously recolonised by plants, animals and humans and the soil can play its essential role.
In addition to demineralisation, the devices installed in the square also work in this direction: rainwater harvesting barrels, infiltration barriers, shelters for wildlife, vegetable boxes etc. Our projects are carried out as much as possible in a 'low tech' way, i.e. with manual tools, requiring no energy input other than that of man. For each of our projects we apply the principles of the circular economy: local and eco-responsible suppliers and partners, use of recycled materials, rental of certain tools, locally produced and indigenous/melliferous plants offering ecosystemic benefits etc. In this particular case, the 'waste' generated by the sites and not reusable in situ (kerbs and paving stones) was recovered by the Commune so that it can be reused elsewhere on their territory (repair of pavements). We also favour active travel: all the material needed as well as the plants were transported by cargo bike. Finally our project has a strong social cohesion aim, in particularly heterogeneous/impoverished neighbourhoods.
Our aesthetic objectives consist in enhancing the nature and naturalness of the fauna, the flora and the participants.
We advocate and promote variety, diversity, organics, openness and experimentation where everyone is involved and activates the public space.. This is in contrast to the classical technical visions that praise order, line, control, normalisation, standardisation and uniformity. This is one of the reasons why the project is exemplary.
Through experimentation we claim the right to make mistakes and value failures as much as successes. We do not expect perfect plans to start and we believe in widening the field of possibilities through boldness and creativity.
Through openness we carry the desire to create convivial spaces where everyone is welcome, we invite sensitivity and presence rather than emptiness and sterility.
To do this, we apply a non-directive psychology at each stage, using systemic permaculture and collective intelligence tools in a playful dimension. These promote sensitivity, the right to respect, a symphony of weaving that facilitates a sense of trust, an atmosphere of sympathy, benevolence, sharing that helps and supports, where everything is easier because it is more natural and joyful.
This mode of action is directly inspired by Nature-based solutions and permaculture design. Thus, once in place, the project will tend to adapt to changes that occur.
Each stage of the process proposed by Less béton is intended to be inclusive. In this case, the diagnostic phase was developed directly with the local residents and with the public of the Université populaire d'Anderlecht, which lives in the neighbourhood and is very diverse. This made it possible to decide on the actions to be undertaken in the square while taking into account the diversity of the public and their desires. But one common point emerged, regardless of origin and social class: the need for more nature.
The fact that the actions and workcamps take place in the public space is very inclusive. Indeed, if some people 'escape' the consultations/meetings prior to them because they were not aware or do not feel concerned, or are too 'outside the system', once in the public space, everything becomes visible/accessible to all.
Also, thanks to our "climate project", we have had the opportunity to integrate into our actions the children of the school support of the UPA Université populaire d'Anderlecht, who for the most part come from a working-class environment and have very little contact with nature.
Sensitive to the involvement of the neighbourhood and the importance of meeting places and living spaces that can federate the local fabric, the UPA and Less béton met around the desire to set up a participatory project carried out in the public space. The elaboration of this project took place over many months, during which we proposed diverse activities, to touch various publics: meetings between inhabitants, walks in the neighbourhood, synthesis of desires/needs, meetings, awareness raising on climate issues...Each proposed workshop became a pretext for a meeting between different users of the square (shopkeepers/residents/workers/children/wanderers), who would not otherwise meet, so that they could express their views on the neighbourhood/the square and thus enable these users to experience it differently, by getting involved. Also, the fact that the workcamps are participatory allows the participants to contribute physically to the changes that have been implemented. This generates a feeling of belonging and contributes to 'demineralising consciousness', i.e. to understand and experience directly the benefits of this demineralising action and to realise that change is possible, even in particularly concrete neighbourhoods, and inhabited by a population coming from a precarious background. It raises awareness of the power to change things, and of the importance of the group, of the strength of the collective, while highlighting our natural interdependence. In this way, we are working towards a sustainable and cooperative society, based on the principles of mutual support, personal responsibility and autonomy. Our work sites are particularly appealing to passers-by: everyone stops, observes, asks questions, ends up participating, or joins the core group. The answers provided by the project were in correlation with a real need/will of the public. This contributes to a better respect of what has been achieved, with a positive reappropriation of the public space.
The UPA, through their presence in the neighbourhood, their knowledge of the public and their reputation, was clearly an asset for the project to benefit from the support necessary for its success. This partnership allowed for a real involvement of the shopkeepers and the inhabitants, but also for the involvement of the municipality of Anderlecht at all levels: political and executive. Indeed, the support of the aldermen in charge (green spaces/cleanliness/public space) made it possible not only to obtain the necessary authorisations to carry out the work but also to accelerate the processes so that the work could be carried out in time. The proactivity and accessibility of the political authorities finally facilitated the work with the various municipal services acting on the ground. This allowed for good logistical preparation and closure of the work sites: loan of equipment, security, recovery of 'waste'... Not forgetting the financial support of the Region in the framework of the CRU, without which none of this would have been possible. Generally speaking, the involvement of the municipality and the field workers during workcamps or events facilitates the appropriation of the sites and their problems by these actors. It also opens up a new type of dialogue between inhabitants and public authorities, less confrontational and more supportive. On the other hand, this collaboration has made it possible to raise the awareness of public authorities to the climate emergency and to a new management method. The link that the UPA already had with the neighbourhood's shopkeepers allowed a good understanding and integration of our project. This led to a very important co-elaboration: dialogue before the interventions, choice of the feet of trees to be enlarged or not according to the uses of the square etc. Their daily presence in the square and their involvement in the project contribute to the respect of the interventions (social control) and a continuous maintenance.
This project is an inexhaustible source of learning. Through these workcamps, we experiment with a form of 'urban archaeology': what is under our feet (impediments, roots...). What is soil? What is the history of this soil? The Square thus became an open-air laboratory, a source of learning and experimentation. The different areas of knowledge of the actors were deliberately directed towards the transmission of circular urbanism, which is the set of practices aimed at preserving and making better "use" of natural resources (air, water, soil, raw materials) in the field of urbanism (recycling of urban spaces, transformation of the existing, intensification of uses). It was a horizontal and spontaneous mode of operation inspired by nature. Thanks to a subsidy from Innoviris (Region), we obtained funding for 'Science and climate' activities with the children of the University's tutoring programme. For 10 weeks, children aged 9 to 12 explored the global issues and local impacts of the effects of climate change. The aim was to explore in detail the interactions AIR-SOIL-WATER, to understand scientific phenomena and to take action in the Square during collective workcamps. Together, we went through three cycles: Living beings in the soil, The water cycle and soil permeability/as carbon sinks. This was an opportunity to raise the children's awareness of soil artificialisation, and to draw attention to the fact that soil is a reservoir of the biodiversity and a very important carbon sink. We were thus able to convey that soils are at the heart of major environmental challenges, such as the availability of quality water, food security, the preservation of biodiversity or the fight against climate change. It was mainly through observation and experimentation that the various knowledge was transmitted. Using these areas where we practised worksites as "outdoor schooling" to raise awareness of life cycles, climate issues and the loss of biodiversity really make sense
We proposed enlarging the pits so that we could collectively plant perennials and annuals at the foot of them, responding directly to the need for more nature and 'green' in the square. The pits before our intervention were far too small for the trees, and further planting could damage the tree. The plants chosen were mainly native and melliferous in order to provide ecosystem services. Once the pits were enlarged, numerous planting sessions were organised, for all audiences and at different seasons. The intervention on the feet of the trees is an added value for them: we were able to observe, by removing the blue stone borders, that the superficial roots of the trees were far too cramped, which was a major cause of their poor health.
Moreover, enlarging the tree pits by removing part of the impermeable mineral surface lining not only promotes gas exchange between the atmosphere and the soil, which can breathe again, but also moistens the soil through better infiltration of surface water, thus restarting the biological activity of the soil and all the associated pedogenesis processes. The addition of a surface cover of wood chips also contributes to an improvement in soil and tree health.
The various interventions on the electrical box increase the vegetation cover, providing shelter and food for wildlife while becoming a source of learning, growing fruit and vegetables, but also of wonder and freshness.
All these interventions related to vegetation are in fact an added value for the whole ecosystem that depends on them: the human beings who take shelter and breathe thanks to them, but also the fauna and flora.
By greening the square, we have made it a place of learning and experience, of reconnecting with life and the earth, through the senses and the emotions generated, and more particularly for the children of the neighbourhood, who finally have access to nature and its benefits.
Our project is the only project in the Brussels that allows citizens to transform so radically the public space, usually governed only by municipal/regional actors. In this sense, it is truly innovative but also challenging for citizens as well as for public authorities who do not directly practice citizen participation, with a great potential for outreach. Finally, the fact that it is citizens who are deconcreting the public space themselves is particularly symbolic and significant for the local residents, but not only. Many citizens talk about the therapeutic effect: we are allowed to 'break' something and then contribute to a positive change. Our concrete action is not limited to working the soil, convincing councillors of greening our over-mineralized neighbourhoods. Beyond the civic act, a deep, intimate and simple bond is created with the city, the neighbourhood and the neighbours that we did not necessarily know before. The participants perform a philosophical and symbolic act as well as a concrete one. These are not actions intended to raise awareness only, they are work sites that change everyday life while fitting into the existing infrastructure via the "urban interstices". They also contribute to the development of practices within the municipalities and to decompartmentalise the actions undertaken. Because demineralising touches on different themes and fields that are distinct but could not be more complementary. Less Béton offers a soft and inspiring key to help the world grow towards a better common life while soil sealing is a process that tends to intensify. Moreover, our interventions are in line with the density of uses, functions and proximity. Indeed, land is too often urbanised for a single use and it has become essential to make the city flexible, capable of adapting continuously to changing needs : we advocate moving from hyper-designed urbanism with controlled developments to transitional urbanism with densified natural spaces.
-Start with what already exists and upgrade it : The aim was to make do with what was present in the square and to ensure that what is under, poorly or no longer used - because it is defective, not legible - could benefit from improvements (repair/embellishment) so that what exists is once again more attractive and respected, legible, invested and resilient.
-Encourage the participation of different audiences at different times: Since the project addresses a diversity of actors and users, we have used different time slots to reach all audiences.
-Favour resilient systems and respect cycles. Guarantee the autonomy of the system to reduce the need for maintenance and renovation: We act as much as possible in a short circuit with regard to external elements and ensure that the new systems put in place can be sustained and maintained using the energy provided by the system
-Leave traces on the square that make the ideas of interventions visible : We made a point of communicating directly in situ about our actions in a creative and accessible way (temporary traces on the ground, multilingualism etc.)
-Creation of links with Brussels partners : We are keen to collaborate as much as possible with associations/collectives that are already present and active in our areas of intervention (here, the UPA) or that are working in the same direction. For example, the nursery 'La Pousse qui pousse' (supply of seeds and plants) and the Recyclart (installation of rainwater collection barrels and construction of protective barriers around the trees)
-Multiple and diversified approaches to raise awareness/reconnect with nature: In addition to the 'physical' interventions proposed by the workcamps, and the various moments of animation/awareness raising, an artistic intervention on the theme of the invisible inhabitants of the square was able to take place in the cabin during our closing party. Another way of raising awareness of the presence/importance of 'non-humans'.
At the methodological level, the work on Pequeur Square was carried out with a permanent systemic vision, guided by the ethics and principles of permaculture, applied to an urban environment.
On a technical level, the fact that our interventions are 'Low tech' does not require large infrastructures, nor a huge budget to be carried out.
In short, we try to inscribe our practices and interventions in a certain sobriety that is not devoid of imagination and common sense!
All this leads to the creation of 'new spaces' with a densification of functions and nature and therefore to new experiences and learning.
At the ecological level, it is important to develop an exemplary approach: workshops, exchanges, walks and meetings, not based on fear and the climate emergency, but on a global vision of our place on earth. Because it is only by becoming aware of our total dependence on nature and other species that we will be able to build a viable future on our planet. Our actions have an environmental, social and economic impact based on urban circularity and improving the quality of life through a different kind of connection to nature. In this respect, we exchange with public authorities, and thus create another know-how that can be easily replicated at different scales.
If this is replicable and transferable everywhere (and this is what we do), it is important to reflect on each particular case and to take time to observe before, during and after the project. This requires, among other things, adapting to the context each time, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of the ecosystem in place as well as the uses and users of the environment. But also to dare to readjust the project as and when the system gives feedback.
This will lead, de facto, to a different process and result each time, even if the guidelines and underlying values remain the same.
The basic objective of the project is to make our city and its inhabitants more resilient to the effects of climate change and the collapse of biodiversity, through participatory demineralisation.
Indeed, we must adapt and organise ourselves at all costs, in order to prepare ourselves now for future heat waves/droughts, floods, food shortages or energy shortages and their consequences on life on earth.
Our project is directly linked to the issue of soil (a non-renewable resource) and the vegetation of our cities. The problem of soil sealing must be taken very seriously because its consequences are far from negligible and first impact already precarious areas. Thus, most sealed soils are no longer in a position to fulfil their environmental functions properly: changes in water flow patterns, sometimes resulting in catastrophic floods; increased drought due to the absence of nature, fragmentation of landscapes and reduction of natural habitats; loss of the land's food production potential and carbon capture, etc.
Low tech, group organisation, urban agriculture allow us to reconnect to the notion of effort, self-production and autonomy, cycles, and to realise that we are able to realise projects without the help of machines, thanks to our own strength and more solidarity and mutual help. This makes us stronger, more connected and projects us into a future with fewer resources and more frugality, but one that is viable, livable and more egalitarian. It gives us an optimistic view of the future despite the challenges.
Because what a few of us can do on a few square metres can be done by a few dozen people on the scale of a town, a city, a country!
