Inspiration Case 7: Community and Public Meeting Space

INSPIRATION CASE 7: COMMUNITY & PUBLIC MEETING SPACE

General Information Community and Public Meeting Space projects like Brussels’ RECYCLART do not just turn neglected urban areas into refurbished and goodlooking places.

They rather work with people and for people to create ever-changing places and inspiring melting pots of creative, intercultural and inter-generational exchange.

Inspiration & Parametres for change a) personal transformation through space transformation

A community meeting space like Recyclart is a transitional area, coming from a tough and neglected area in town that has turned into a generator that radiates positive energy to the surrounding city. People taking part in that venture will pick up the energy whilst meeting unexpected community members and their fascinating reactions.

b) community activities & education

Š Clear Village 2011

Public meeting spaces like Recyclart offer activities that challenge traditional limits and cut across the standard box mentality. They often provide a variety of opportunities for local communities, for example concerts, arts, sports, meeting space, ateliers or education programmes for the youth and unemployed.

Information and pictures sourced from http://www.recyclart.be and http://www.rebelup.org. All rights reserved.

INSPIRATION CASE 7: COMMUNITY & PUBLIC MEETING SPACE Our inspiring example: RECYCLART, Brussels, Belgium

© Clear Village 2011

The Brussels-based project Recyclart, primarily initiated with the objective of changing the station site Chapelle-Kapellekerk and link the metropolitain centre with common living quarters of the inner city. Recyclart currently functions as an artistic laboratory, a creative centre for cultural confrontation, an actor in the municipal public arena, a training centre and a place for meeting and experiment.

How does Recyclart work in detail?

In context of an urban pilot project in Brussels, the non-profit organisation Recyclart was founded to convert the site of the station Chapelle-Kapellekerk and its surroundings, which over the years had developed into a neglected waste area, into a new lifely quarter.

By picking up the potential and creativity of local people, the project aimed at • renovating and redesigning the station areas, • reconstructing the public domain, and • developing cultural & socio-economic activities.

The station rooms have been converted into a unified whole of multifunctional areas that host a wide range of arts and festivities, a café-restaurant, technical and artistic studios as well as a secretariat. The railway bridges function as an urban open-air gallery whereas the station square is home to loungers, skateboarders, a summer café and open-air events.

Information and pictures sourced from http://www.recyclart.be and http://www.rebelup.org. All rights reserved.

What does this mean for Brussels’ community?

Since its reconversion in 1997, station ‘Bruxelles-Chapelle’ hosted some of the most diverse events, ranging from concerts over parties to exhibitions and debates, offering local communities not only artistic but also leisure and recreational facilities in one building.

More importantly, Recyclart is a place where people of different cultures, ages, wavelengths get together, find their inspiration to take next steps and an arena for reflection. Additionally, the project offers daily training and employment programs for long-term and lowly educated unemployed community members.