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The biennial Zinneke Parade took place in Brussels this past weekend, and I had the pleasure of experiencing it for the first time. Not only was it a great parade in general, but it followed processes and principles that I love. Here is what it is about, according to the official website:
Zinneke is a living city project!
Over a two-year period, Zinneke builds intense collaborations between residents, organisations, collectives, schools and artists from different neighbourhoods of Brussels and beyond. It’s a social and artistic project where people develop their creativity and explore imagination with others.
Zinneke Parade as highlight!
Zinneke is a participatory creation, an open space for everyone to experiment with cooperative living in the 21st century city, a city inhabited by Zinnekes proud of their mixed roots. Above all, it’s a fantastic celebration in the city, unique and 100% human - without amplification or motors.
Why “Zinneke”?
Zinneke is the name Brussels people give to the small Senne/Zenne river that circles Brussels, protecting it against flooding. Zinneke is also used to refer to a stray dog or mutt… some of which end up in the river. And so we get Zinneke: meaning one of multiple origin and symbol of the cosmopolitan and multicultural nature of Brussels.
Twenty-two different groups were formed in the months leading up to the parade, each of which was made up of people from different organizations and neighborhoods in Brussels, as well as from other towns nearby. People who likely didn’t know each other before collaborated in order to design their team’s response to the chosen theme, which in the case of this year’s parade was “disorder.”
The group in the video above called themselves Urban Village, and relied heavily on music, dancing, and marching to represent the tensions between order and disorder. While all of the groups that participated in the parade came up with highly creative and entertaining interpretations of the theme, this one stood out to me through the heavy use of music - which starts as rhythmic, orderly, marching, and morphs into improvised chaos, with people breaking the marching lines and running around frantically. Moments later, lines are formed again and order resumes.
I will be posting some more pictures of the parade soon, so be sure to check back.
Some cities use signs for street names that are subtle and non-intrusive, but sometimes hard to find. Others use signs that are highly visible and standardized, but sometimes a little boring.
The Vieux Lille (Old Lille) neighborhood of Lille does something outside of both of these categories: signs that are creatively individualized per street and hang in the middle of the air, up above everyone’s heads.
In addition to street names, there are other decorations as well, ranging from messages (thank you for your visit), strings of lights, shapes made of lights, and even bicycle wheels.
It’s a great idea, because it allows each of the streets to build their own individual identity within the same general district, and increases the level of liveliness, above that already provided by the interesting shops, beautiful buildings, foot traffic, and so on.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get pictures of signs on some of the other streets, but I did see that there were some from a distance. Something to do on the next visit!
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Green roof?
I snapped this photo while walking around in the Etterbeek neighborhood of Brussels last Fall. How did that tree get on top of that roof? Or is it in the ground with the structure built around it?
Photo reblogged from Zinneke with 24 notes
This photo, which I found on the excellent Bruxellois Tumblr page (and originally posted by ruleof3), finally led me to some information about the set of vacant buildings behind Congress Column in Brussels, which I had been struggling to find ever since I visited the site and blogged about it here.
The site is called La Cité administrative de l’État, and it was built with the purpose of consolidating various state administrative services onto one site. Construction took over 25 years, while active use of the space only lasted about 17-18 years, when changes in Belgian government structure caused an elimination or redistribution of the services provided here.
Bruxellois posted the following quote from Wikipedia:
La Cité administrative de l’État (en néerlandais: Rijksadministratief Centrum) est un projet de l’État belge, visant la création d’un complexe gigantesque afin de regrouper les administrations nationales. Sa construction débuta en 1958, dans le centre urbainbruxellois. La dernière pierre fut posée en 1983 à la suite de retards successifs.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cit%C3%A9_administrative_de_l’%C3%89tat
A version of that article in English (via Google translate) can be found here.
The Wikipedia article also references the following sources for further reading:
More information about the history of this development can be found here (in French), at a website called Badeaux.
Descriptions of the future plans for the site can be found at the website for the International Development Plan of Brussels, including a brief description (translated to English via Google) and a highly detailed PDF.
According to this plan, the site will be converted into a multi-use development including housing, shops, offices, community facilities, and a park. Considering that its been in phases of vacancy, planning, stalled development, or construction for a good decade, it will be nice to see something come to life here.
Finally, here are some previously unposted photos of mine from a similar perspective to the photo above. The photo above seems to be looking down at the area below the platform that my photos show, but it still give you a sense of the current state of things.
Source: ruleof3
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I have a thing for hidden spaces in the city. Something about a tucked away space makes it that much more special once you find it. You feel a little more connected to it and the neighborhood around it; like you and others who go there share a secret.
I just discovered this one recently.
Behind a door, a corridor. Beyond the corridor, a playground. The door blends in with the rest of the street unless you’re really paying attention. The playground occupies a space behind buildings, something that would be reserved as private spaces for residents and owners in other developments.
I wonder how children feel about spaces like these.
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“Here, there could be 2 housing units”
Anyone who has seen the film Urbanized, or frequently reads articles about civic engagement in places like The Atlantic or GOOD, has probably heard about “I Wish This Was“ - the brilliant initiative in New Orleans where community members write their desires for vacant storefronts on stickers, and stick them on the vacant buildings in question, rather than talking about them in some removed bureaucratic office or school gymnasium.
I, like many others, find this concept to be amazing, and have been wondering if similar efforts exist in other cities around the world, whether directly inspired by “I Wish This Was,” or just equally of our time.
While walking around in St. Gilles this past weekend, I was excited to find a sticker initiative in Brussels via a sticker on the ground floor of the building pictured above (the bottom left corner of the photo). The sticker, roughly translated, says “Here, there could be 2 housing units,” and is placed on a door, next to a shuttered window.
The sticker contains a link to an organization called Rassemblement Bruxellois pour le Droit à l’Habitat, which roughly translates to “Assembly of Brussels Residents for the Right to Housing.” It seems this group is quite active in promoting vacant buildings and apartments as potential spaces for affordable housing, and has a number of initiatives going on throughout the city. In addition to details on their website, some internet searching points me to the initiative that my sticker discovery is likely a part of - a project in which the group created a database of 150 vacant units in the St. Gilles community and turned it over to the local government, demanding that their status be investigated. An article (in French) can be read about that effort here, at RTBF.
I’m excited to keep my eye on this organization going forward. Vacant spaces, especially those that are long term or not kept up well, can have seriously bad impacts on local businesses, housing values, and other economic indicators. Aside from that, using a space for a home or small business, is an extremely better use than leaving it sit empty, particularly when solutions and demand are out there.
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The grass along this stretch of tram tracks has a path carved out of it. Presumed thinking: If you’re not provided with a bike lane, make one.
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Food Companies Begin to Fill a Neighborhood Void
In Fall 2010, a class I was taking as part of my master’s program was broken up into groups and assigned to design a plan for a series of lots in South Williamsburg / North Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. One of the lots contained a giant building, formerly owned by Pfizer, as well as a massive parking lot. Across the street stood a school, surrounded by outdoor play space and a small parcel of unused land. Beyond the school and its outdoor space were the remainder of the lots, all unbuilt, ranging from a vast, fenced-off parking lot, to overgrown, unkempt, vacant lots. My team and I kicked off the project by meeting up, walking around the neighborhood, and taking pictures.
That same semester, I started working on the final project for my degree, a study of the food processing sector in New York City. That project wasn’t very far along at the time, but it was far enough along for me to know that food manufacturing is the most stable form of manufacturing in New York City, contracting only slightly, and even growing in some sub-categories, while other forms of manufacturing have shrunk in recent years. It was also far enough along for me to know that food manufacturing offers good jobs, including a high number of jobs for people with limited education or English skills, paying higher than most jobs in restaurants or retail (see NYIRN article below for details).
This week, over a year and a half later, I opened a New York Times article from a couple weeks back to see that my personal experiences and thoughts of that time had somehow come together - as the giant Pfizer building has begun the process of being turned, at least in part, into a space for Brooklyn based food companies, such as McClures Pickles, Brooklyn Soda Works, Steve’s Ice Cream, Madécasse, Kombucha Brooklyn, and People’s Pops. The company responsible for the change, Acumen, purchased the building from Pfizer, and has a vision for converting it into a mixed use development, including light manufacturing, retail, a farmer’s market, a gym, and a rooftop farm.
As exciting as it is to see that this building is moving ahead with being used again, bringing jobs and life back to a space that created a void in the neighborhood, the New York Times article points out that there are still no plans for the other lots, and that community members are concerned:
Although neighborhood groups are optimistic about Acumen, they are dismayed that Pfizer sold the land off in chunks. Pfizer still owns several parcels, including two block-long pieces of undeveloped land. Residents worry that the end result will be a hodgepodge of projects with no cohesive development plan for the neighborhood.
“The vision is everything. If you piecemeal it out, it becomes a business deal instead of a community vision,” said Rob Solano, the executive director of Churches United for Fair Housing, a community group.
In light of these developments and ongoing concerns, I thought I’d dig through my archive of photos from back in 2010 and revisit them here, expanding the context of the Times article some.
As my photos show, there is clearly a complex interplay of forces in the neighborhood. On one hand, you have the massive void in the middle, filled with fenced-off, littered, and lifeless lots. Many of the sidewalks and fencing surrounding these lots were in a state of disrepair, and many of the lots were overgrown with weeds. On the other hand, across from this void, down nearby streets, filling clusters and pockets, you have strong signs of community life. Just a few examples include the following: The Marcy Houses, to the Southwest of the lots, have pathways with garden plots, playground equipment, trees, and brightly painted benches. Walton Street, to the Northeast, has De Hostos playground and the Project Roots Community Garden. Many streets are filled with dense residential developments, leading to the conclusion that there are many people around, despite the feeling of emptiness one might feel while standing next to the empty lots. Other streets have clusters of light manufacturing (including some pre-existing food companies!) and other commercial enterprises, surely providing some local economic base and surely worth preserving. There are schools in almost every direction, including the one mentioned and pictured above - now a charter school, but retaining remnants of the past with its “Pfizer Quality” emblem on the front. There are also major signs of religious importance in the community, with several churches in nearby streets, and a large Jewish community made evident by people in Hasidic clothing and Sukkahs constructed on the sides of buildings. These are just some of my observations - I’m sure there is so much more that I missed.
Food companies locating in the Pfizer building as an initial spark is a great step forward. One can only hope that this community gets what it deserves in the remainder of the void: a chance to fill it with its own vision, a chance to build a place of community value and importance, and a chance to connect all those great signs of community life together, as one large cohesive plan.
Further reading about the site and food manufacturing:
NY Times: Food Start-Ups Find a Home in Brooklyn
Scouting NY: Exploring the Abandoned Pfizer Chemical Plant in Brooklyn
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City: Beyond Urban Farming and Rooftop Gardens: The Complexity of the Food Cluster
New York Industrial Retention Network (NYIRN) / Pratt Center for Community Development: More Than a Link in the Food Chain
New York City Council: FoodWorks: A Vision to Improve New York City’s Food System
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People Vs. Grass
Park de Bruxelles
(I previously posted this image to twitter, but realized it was deserving of a Tumblr spot as well)
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