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2016
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Housing production in Brussels: the neighbourhood city to stand the test of urban densification

Notes de la rédaction

This is the press release related to the article from Priscilla Ananian, published on December 19, 2016. Read the article.

The Brussels-Capital Region must face several challenges, not least of all demographic expansion and the fight against poverty. In a limited territory, this leads to an increase in the density of inhabitants as well as the demand for housing which is financially accessible to the different categories of the population.

Urban densification is overseen by the public authorities via urban planning tools, which are often based on the concept of the neighbourhood city. This concept advocates the coexistence of housing,services, amenities and facilities, which must be accessible on foot. In a city with more and more traffic, the regional authorities see this as one of the solutions to mobility problems.

However, while the hypothesis may be put forth that densification favours the geographical proximity of people and activities, housing production processes do not consolidate the neighbourhood city throughout the territory or for all profiles of inhabitants. This is due in particular to restrictions which affect the choice of location and programming of public real estate operations.

This is the main observation made by Priscilla Ananian, professor of urbanism and urban studies at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), in her analysis of the distribution of major housing construction operations between 1989 and 2013 in Brussels. In order to make this observation, she carried out a systematic analysis and mapping of building permits, distinguishing private and public production, with the latter at the centre of her analysis.

Historically, in Brussels, social housing production is in keeping with two perspectives related to location. On the one hand, it involves the production of housing in an environment where buildings are dilapidated and the population is disadvantaged, i.e. by developing the historically working-class neighbourhoods (Cité Hellemans, Remparts des Moines, certain neighbourhood contract operations, etc.). In this perspective, there is a concentration of means in certain neighbourhoods in the centre and its surroundings. On the other hand, it involves building in places where there is still enough room for less dense housing developments where the value of real estate is lower (garden cities such as Logis-Floréal, Bon Air, Cité Moderne, Cité Modèle, etc.).

By analysing recent public production, the author makes the observation that the share of authorised housing near facilities, services and amenities is slightly higher for public production than it is for the private sector. But only half of public housing production really meets the conditions of proximity to facilities in keeping with the philosophy of the neighbourhood city. Even worse, the share of public production near facilities tends to decrease over time, which leads one to question the perspectives regarding the location of operations for the two current programmes. This confirms the idea that the recent development poles and their surroundings should integrate the question of facilities in their programming.

Until recently, Brussels – with its relatively central working-class neighbourhoods – did not combine social precariousness with geographical isolation, as seen in French suburbs. In relative terms, the recent public operations nevertheless seem to call into question the 'Brussels model', in particular due to the limited availability of land, the competition with private developers for the best locations, and the diversity policies advocated especially in the former industrial area. As a result, the social housing projects with a high level of service are above all small projects. The projects with a moderate level of service are located between the inner and the outer ring, whereas those with the lowest level of service are located at the edges of the Region, and are also the largest with respect to the number of dwellings created. With the lack of quality facilities in these new neighbourhoods, isolation and an increase in extremely difficult journeys are added to social precariousness.

In order to avoid this relatively new form of enclosed poverty in Brussels, there needs to be a proactive land policy as well as true coordination between urban planning and the sector-based policies of housing, facilities and transport.

References
Ananian, Priscilla, “Housing production in Brussels: the neighbourhood city to stand the test of urban densification”, Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, No 107, 19 December 2016. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1461
Contact
Benjamin Wayens, Senior Editor: bwayens[at]brusselsstudies.be

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