As of the 11th of February, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel’s chair Willy Calewaert is organizing a series of debates on the topic of Brussels. The chair is led by Prof. Eric Corijn, social geographer and professor at the university. The title of the series is called “Brussels is not the problem, Brussels is the solution”. […]
The South African luxury hotel Emoya offers its guests a stay in an artificial slum called Shanty Town. For 65 Euros you are able to spend four nights experiencing the life in a slum. Wonderful! The hotel company built Shanty Town with the same materials, interior, and structure like “real” slums, but with a few […]
Detroit has experienced a major economic and demographic decline in recent decades. Its population has decreased from almost 2 million in the 1950s to around 700.000 in 2013, causing significant problems in unemployment, crime, poverty, urban decay, and budgetary planning. The recent documentary on Detroit and its history is called “Detropia”. It focuses predominantly on the […]
On Sunday the 13th of October Belgium celebrates architecture. As our strange little country divides certain aspects of governance between its communities, it is in fact architecture day for Flanders only. I suspect that this is considered the domain of culture, and as such, the different communities each have their own agenda. This just as […]
IBA’s have a long tradition in Germany as a tool in urban development and urban design. The first IBA started in Darmstadt in 1901. The internationally most known ones were in Berlin in 1957 with the development of the Hansa Viertel, and the IBA Emscher Park from 1989 to 1999 in North Rhine-Westphalia. Historically, IBA’s […]
The ongoing IBA, International Building exhibition, which started in March 2013 in Hamburg, is soon coming to an end (on the 7th of November). The building exhibition experiences this year with innovative architectural solutions for pressing problems of the urban community life, such as the growing diversity of its population, the low attractiveness of the […]
Charleroi – Photo credit: Kätti Rob Lately, Charleroi and Copenhagen propose alternative Urban walks for locals and tourists alike. In Copenhagen Jacob Jacobsen, a local visual artist, activist and organizer, takes visitors and locals on a tour through the traditionally working class neighbourhoods. In Charleroi Nicolas Buissart, Belgian artist and designer, proposes an urban safari […]
Originally posted on Cities for People:
Last week I attended the conference Think Space in Malmö. A very inspiriting day on the theme of “urban development in the inbetween” discussing participatory urban development, urban interventions, art-culture-social innovation as an agent for change. I heard some inspiring presentations and met with some interesting people. Team Better Block A…
Bruxitizen is a yearly event that tries to engage the young inhabitants of Brussels to think and discuss about their needs for the capital. The current edition will take place in St Gillis under the form of an ‘open space’. The concept allows anyone to walk in at any time and join a discussion about issues […]
With the Thought For Food summit just behind us, here’s a short documentary on urban farming in Singapore. The prospect of a rising population coupled to the limits of our current model of food production led an innovative creation by Jack Ng. His SkyGreens (as it is called) makes use of vertical space to grow […]
the Human City Project 