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Which morphologies for “inclusion in urbanity”? Exploring practices along the Steenweg

Notes de la rédaction

This is the press release related to the article from Gabrielle Fenton, Jean-Philippe De Visscher and Michel Hubert, published on 14 February 2022. Read the article.

Connecting Chaussée de Gand and Chaussée d’Ixelles via Rue de Flandre, Mont des Arts and Place Royale, the historic Steenweg traffic artery was designated in 2020 as one of the major pedestrian itineraries in the regional mobility plan. This artery is also considered to play an important role in terms of the many potential links it provides at cultural, social, ecological and economic levels. The 165th issue of Brussels Studies examines these potentialities based on an exploratory analysis of three interstitial spaces along the former artery – Galerie Matongé, Galerie Toison d'Or and Galerie du Centre – and another look at the concept of “communication in distance”, which goes beyond the rhetoric of inclusion and mix commonly seen in Brussels policies. The article was written by Gabrielle Fenton (anthropologist, UCLouvain), Jean-Philippe De Visscher (engineer/architect, UCLouvain) and Michel Hubert (sociologist, Université Saint-Louis - Brussels).

The three shopping galleries included in the study are examples of the many places along the Steenweg artery which play a true role in its function as a public space. In these galleries – where there is a concentration of shops and where pedestrians mingle with the occupants and users – the authors see possibilities for “inclusion in urbanity”. In keeping with the work of Jean Remy in the 1990s, they argue that the possibility of communication occurring between strangers depends on the existence of urban morphologies which allow distance and also enable diverse encounters and interactions. Depending on the layout of the galleries and their formal or informal management, these encounters occur to varying degrees.

The study of the functioning of these places demonstrates that the coexistence and linking of different types of spaces (some more enclosed and some more open, some strongly related to a community and others more neutral and interstitial) can enable “communication in distance” to unfold. Therefore, the future redevelopment of the Steenweg as a pedestrian itinerary is considered by the researchers to be an opportunity to experiment with a new strategy for “inclusion in urbanity”, envisaging such spaces as gateways rather than as enclaves. While current policies focus separately on social infrastructure within neighbourhoods targeted by urban renewal programmes and on the quality of public spaces in the city centre, the article speaks in favour of an integrated approach with respect to the wider public domain of the Steenweg, with open public spaces as well as interstitial and enclosed spaces brought together in a sequence of diverse neighbourhoods.

References
Fenton, Gabrielle, de Visscher, Jean-Philippe and Hubert, Michel, “Which morphologies for “inclusion in urbanity”? Exploring practices along the Steenweg”, Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, No 165, 14 February 2022. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/5900
Contact
Tatiana Debroux, Editor in chief:
tdebroux[at]brusselsstudies.be

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