The Good, the Bad and the Ugly*

Alessandra Bruno, Bernardo Robles Hidalgo and Bie Vancraeynest will share their experiences from the outstanding urban project Marie Moskou in Brussels.

 

Commissioned by the local municipality, Toestand – a non-profit organisation proposing temporary uses of vacant urban spaces by developing inclusive, social and cultural projects in Brussels – investigated and collected needs and desires of residents and users, during a 4-year “temporary use” project on the public “Place Marie Janson” (Marie Janson square) in Brussels.

 

Through frictions, negotiations, failures and re-thinking design – expressed by material and immaterial interventions – the square (that was in the course of the project renamed to “Marie Moskou”) became a meeting place where to experiment, exchange ideas and organize activities, bringing different people together and questioning their place in public spaces.

 

Toestand’s observations eventually served as a base for the definite re-design competition of the square.

 

What can we learn from “Marie Moskou”? What are the “basic needs of work” in public spaces? What kind of magically unmagic qualities do we long for in an urban context? Do we need to plan the unplanned or unplan the planned?

 

We will examine these questions with our guests and other people involved in the project, that may be around:

 

Guillaume Vanneste (Urbanist/Architect, VVV)

Ruben Morichar (Youth Worker)

Maria Anita Palumbo (Anthropologist PhD, ENSASE)

SimZim (Landscape Architects)

 

The lecture will be held in real space for participants of the Social Design FocusWeek and live on Zoom for guests.

 

Come and join us!

 

Foto by Bernardo Robles Hidalgo