Brussels Edible Metropole. Design Investigation into Rhizomatic Foodscapes

Design Investigation into Rhizomatic Foodscapes Brussels, Belgium

Laetitia Nour Hanna Master (of Science) Urbanism, Landscape and Planning Faculty of Engineering Science and Department of Architecture Promoter: Prof. Bruno De Meulder Co-Promoter: Prof. Kelly Shannon

Academic Year 2021 - 2022

© Laetitia Nour Hanna

BRUSSELS EDIBLE METROPOLE

BRUSSELS EDIBLE METROPOLE

Design Investigation into Rhizomatic Foodscapes Brussels, Belgium

Laetitia Nour Hanna KU Leuven Master (of Science) Urbanism, Landscape and Planning Faculty of Engineering Science and Department of Architecture Promoter: Prof. Bruno De Meulder Co-Promoter: Prof. Kelly Shannon

Academic Year 2021 - 2022

© Copyright KU Leuven Without written permission of the thesis supervisors and the authors it is forbidden to reproduce or adapt in any form or by any means any part of this publication.

Requests for obtaining the right to reproduce or utilize parts of this publication should be addressed to Faculty of Engineering and Department of Architecture, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 box 2431, B-3001 Heverlee.

A written permission of the thesis supervisors is also required to use the methods, products, schematics and programs described in this work for industrial or commercial use, and for submitting this publication in scientific contests.

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With these words marking the end of my thesis as well as my studies, I would like to thank all the people who helped me fulfil that achievement.

To begin with, I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Bruno de Meulder and Prof. Kelly Shannon for your advices, your guidance and your presence throughout this journey. Thank you for always pushing me to challenge myself.

I am profoundly grateful for the different initiatives and organizations working on the question of food production in and around Brussels for the many researches, insights and documentation on the subjects. Thanks for the people who crossed my way and helped me in the accomplishment of this thesis, mainly Roselyne de Lestrange, Cecil Konijnendijk, as well as Inès, Alex and Simon.

Many thanks to Benoit Moritz, you never stopped to push me beyond my comfort zone, and if I’m here today it’s thanks to you. Thank you for these interesting conversations, for your constant support and your trust in me.

Thank you for making me discover urbanism and make me appreciate it that much.

Special thanks to my family and friends who always believed in me and pushed me further while motivating me when needed. This wouldn’t have been possible without your constant support!

For my parents, I know that these years were difficult for you, and I am forever grateful for your sacrifices so I can achieve that. Emile and Yasmina, even if we’re far from each other, I want you to know that I am grateful for you and for the bond that we have. Alexis, thank you for always standing by my side, even during the difficult times.

Furthermore, I would like to thank the many people who crossed my way during this journey, especially the MaHS/ MaULP friends and colleagues. Your good mood and motivating words, as well as the interesting discussions that we had throughout these two years marked me forever. You have a special place in my heart and I can’t wait to meet again around the globe.

To end up, I am grateful for the people who participated, in some way or another, to the accomplishment of this work, and who will recognize themselves throughout the pages.

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ABSTRACT Food-related networks have always been catalyst for the reorganization of the city. Traditionally, cities have been formed depending on availability of land to agricultural-prone areas. Food therefore shaped the city and the urban fabric. With the rapid industrialization and the numerous networks that globalization has created, the urban landscape underwent a series of modifications, growing beyond its limits, hence creating an imbalance between the ecosystems, while reducing the population’s access to land and local and/or qualitative food.

Centrally located in Belgium, the Brussels Capital Region is crossed by a Canal, an artificial water system that links Antwerp (in the North of the country) with Charleroi (located more southward), and the Senne, covered in some parts of the city. Because of its dense urban fabric, its large sealed surfaces and the small amount of green spaces, the capital struggles to supply its population with locally-grown food. That’s why it decided to rely again more on its hinterland.

The Pajottenland Region is located at the South-West of Brussels. It is characterized by a hilly bocage landscape and very fertile lands, which made it a catalyst for food production for centuries. The last decennia, small parcels have been regrouped to create larger parcels dedicated to intensive agriculture, and the urban tissue sprawled beyond the capital’s boundaries, taking place on agricultural lands.

Today, Brussels’s suburban fringes are confronted with major challenges that should be tackled in the future, such as the supply of the population with fresh and locally grown food, the preservation of biodiversity, and the transformation of the urban fabric towards new ways of living and moving, that answer to current expectations.

The aim of this design thesis is to restore the connection between Brussels and the Pajottenland region as a feeder hinterland, while taking the food system as a catalyst to re-shape the suburban landscape, hence creating new forms of urbanism towards an agroecological foodscape. The designs intervene on different scales, and proposes the deployment of a productive rhizome within the fringes of the urban fabric, generating progressive and evolutionary transitions of the hinterland. The design aims at ensuring local food supply for the population while taking it as a potential to improve the population’s quality of life by bringing in new ways of living with food.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface

7

Glossary Introduction Study Site Research Question Hypothesis

12 14 16 17 17

Understanding the foodscape of Brussels and its surroundings

21

Design explorations - Pajottenland region

33

Design strategies

43

Conclusions Bibliography

101 104

Heritage Existing food supply chain Water security Land security

History of the site Regionaal Landschapplan Pajottenland & Zennevallei Existing initiatives

Understanding the rhizome Main design strategies Building up the rhizome Matrices, patches and corridors Vogelenzang, a territory in transition

24 26 30 31

36 38 40

50 52 58 62 74

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8

Preface

Glossary Introduction Study Site Research Question Hypothesis

(Next double page) The test space of Boeren Bruxsel Paysans, located in Anderlecht, gives the possibility for vegetable gardeners to test their exploitation in a guided environment.

Image by Author, 2021 9

GLOSSARY Agriculture

Guilford County Schools. n.d. AP Human Geography - Vocabulary Lists.

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for subsistence or economic gain.

It has influenced the growth of areas and human society.

Agricultural Industrialization

Guilford County Schools. n.d. AP Human Geography - Vocabulary Lists.

The use of machinery in agriculture, like tractors ext.

Makes it a lot faster for farmers to yield crop.

Agroecology

CIDSE, 2018. The principles of Agroecology.

A scientific research approach involving the holistic study of agroecosystems and food systems, A set of principles and practices that enhances the resilience and sustainability of food and farming systems while preserving social integrity, A socio-political movement, which focuses on the practical application of agroecology, seeks new ways of considering agriculture, processing, distribution and consumption of food, and its relationships with society and nature.

Allotment Garden

Merriam Webster Dictionary.

Also known as Kitchen Garden. A garden in which plants (such as vegetables or herbs) for use in the kitchen are cultivated.

Community Garden

Viljoen, André, Katrin Bohn, and Joe Howe. 2005. Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes. Architectural Press. Oxford, London. xx

Managed and used by local communities or neighbourhoods for recreation and education.

Sometimes found on unused or abandoned urban sites, or in grounds of public buildings, e.g. public housing, hospitals, retirement homes.

Often has a small building for use by the community, in particular children and disadvantaged groups.

Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL)

Viljoen, André, Katrin Bohn, and Joe Howe. 2005. Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes. Architectural Press. Oxford, London. xviii

A coherently planned and designed combination of Continuous Landscape and Productive Urban Landscape.

Open urban landscape.

Productive in economical and socio-cultural and environmental terms.

Placed within an urban-scale landscape strategy.

Constructed to incorporate living and natural elements.

Designed to encourage and allow urban dwellers to observe activities and processes traditionally associated with the countryside, thereby re-establishing a relationship between life and the processes required to support it.

Corridor

Forman, Richard T T. 2006. Land Mosaics. The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions. 9th print. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 38

A strip of a particular type that differs from the adjacent land on both sides.

Corridors have several important functions, including conduit, barrier, and habitat.

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Foodscape

Bossio, Deborah, Michael Obersteiner et.al. 2021. Foodscapes: Toward Food System Transition. The Nature Conservancy, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and SYSTEMIQ. 7

Foodscapes are the geographical components of the global food system, a combination of production system and place that represents the world food system spatially. Mapping and analyzing foodscapes reveal the transitions needed on the ground to meet this century’s most pressing challenge: the threats posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and increased demand on the integrity of the global food system.

Grain

Forman, Richard T T. 2006. Land Mosaics. The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions. 9th print. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 39

The coarseness in texture of an area, as determined by the size of patches recognized. Fine grain has mostly small patches, and coarse grain mainly large patches.

Patch

Forman, Richard T T. 2006. Land Mosaics. The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions. 9th print. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 39

A relatively homogeneous nonlinear area that differs from it surroundings. The internal microheterogeneity present is repeated in similar form throughout the area of a patch.

Pattern

Guilford County Schools. n.d. AP Human Geography - Vocabulary Lists.

A common property of distribution, which is the geometric arrangement of objects in space. Some features are organized in a geometric pattern, whereas others are distributed irregularly. Geographers observe that many objects form a linear distribution, such as the arrangement of houses along a street or stations along a subway line.

Phytoremediation

OVAM. 2019. “Phytoremediation - Code of Good Practice”. http://www.actalliance.org/resources/policies-and-guidelines/codes-of-conduct/ACT Alliance Code of Good Practice approved 05 Feb 2011.pdf.

A remediation technology that uses plants and microorganisms to remediate contaminated soil, water or sediment via degradation, extraction, transformation or volatilization or to stabilize (immobilization) the contamination.

Rhizome

Estrella, Maureen. 2013. Rhizome - Deleuze|Guattari. In IAAC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.

Deleuze and Guattari, have assigned this term “rhizome” referring to a relation like that of roots. They spread underground with no direction, no beginning, and no end. They are dispersed. It is opposed to the idea of a tree which has a starting point, and from there branches out in a predictable path.

Urban agriculture

Viljoen, André, Katrin Bohn, and Joe Howe. 2005. Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes. Architectural Press. Oxford, London. xviii

Agriculture which occurs within the city.

In most cases high yield market gardens for fruit and vegetable growing.

Found on the ground, on roofs, facades fences and boundaries.

If economic conditions are difficult, likely to include small animals.

Developing to include aquaculture (fish production).

Vegetable Gardening

Guilford County Schools. n.d. AP Human Geopgraphy - Vocabulary Lists.

Also known as Market Gardening. The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers.

Distinguishable by the large diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, during a single growing season. Labor is done manually 13

INTRODUCTION

“We are going to stop seeing cities as big, metropolitan, unproductive blobs, we’re going to see them more as part of the productive, organic framework of which they are inevitably a part, symbolically connected.” – Carolyn Steel (Steel, TedGlobal 2009).

Over the centuries, cities have been driven by food availability and soil fertility, food therefore being the greatest force to shape civilizations (Hoge 2021, 12). However, food urbanism and urban agriculture are barely present within our cities, which is problematic in terms of food self-sustainability.

With the rapid urbanization of the cities and their expansion, as well as the development of the transport system in times of industrialization (Jacques and Moritz 2019, 10), food production “was dispersed further and further from urban centers” (Imbert 2015, ix), therefore dispelling the connection between eating, working and living.

The global economy is now based on an over-consumerism, that changes our habits and ways of eating. The lack of ethics and the development of new transport systems, as well as globalization are now opposed to the ancestral model based on proximity (Marot 2020, 3). Progressively, we are witnessing a separation between the city and its nurturer hinterland, as well as between human and nature, because of a series of political, economic and technical decisions (Paddeu 2021, 22).

Nowadays, the tendency is changing, and the emergence of food belts around many cities proves the need and the will for organic and local production. People don’t want to eat only; they want to eat well. Urban agriculture therefore tries to “[renew] the historic tie between culture and cultivation” (Imbert 2015, 7), by enhancing the connection between city and hinterland.

As William Cronon said; “We are consumers all, whether we live in the city or in the country. This is to say that the urban and the rural landscapes I have been describing are not two places but one. They created each other, they transformed each other’s environments and economies, and they now depend on each other for their very survival. To see them separately is to misunderstand where they came from and where they might go in the future. Worse, to ignore the nearly infinite ways they affect one another is to miss our moral responsibility for the way they shape each other’s landscapes” (Cronon 1991, 384). It is therefore necessary to consider both the city and the countryside not as two separated objects, but rather as the two sides of the same coin, and therefore highlight the connection between them.

Brussels’s South-Western hinterland and its agricultural structure.

Adapted by Author.

0 14

0.5

1

2km

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STUDY SITE

The situation in Brussels in terms of food production needs improvement.

In fact, only 1.5% of the capital’s surface is dedicated to urban agriculture and productive landscapes (Ronsmans n.d., 16). In total, 390 allotment gardens, or potagers collectifs (Co-Create 2022) are present in Brussels, and quite paradoxically, take place most of the time “outside regulatory agricultural land” (Decleve et al 2020, 24). These collective productive spaces represent 200 tons or 0.05% of the total feeding needs of the Brussels’s population (De Lestrange, Fierens, 2021). On another note, private allotment gardens are also developed within the capital’s boundaries, however they do not (yet) participate into the whole feeding system of the city. In total, only 1.5% of the total surface of the capital is exploited for agriculture.

Another issue in the development of productive landscapes in the city is the lack of space. In fact, the borders of the city are constraining its constant growth, hence creating a land pressure that puts into competition agriculture and housing. The agriculture parcels located within the city boundaries are considered as land reserves to be constructed (Paddeu 2021, 22), rather than full-fledged entities, with all what they represent as potentials for enhanced self-sufficiency.

It goes without saying that neither the Brussels Capital Region (RBC), nor any other large agglomeration is able to sustain by itself the food sovereignty and sufficiency within its own boundaries. It is therefore evident that it should rely on its entire hinterland, referred as the ‘metropolitan territory’, which represents 4499 km2 in and around the city (de Lestrange, Fierens, et al. 2021, 17) for the case of Brussels, in order to provide its population with enough local food.

It is with this statement that the RBC has launched in 2016 a public voluntary politic known under the name of the “Good Food Strategy” (goodfood.brussels), and aims at putting the food in the center of the city’s discussions and exploit its economic, social and environmental dimensions.

One of the strategy’s objectives is to provide healthy and sufficient food for the city’s inhabitants. To do so, the RBC aims at (re)connecting with its nurturing countryside, mainly the Flemish part, by creating a fictitious 10-kilometers radius around the capital that would supply 30% of the capital’s needs in terms of market gardening (Declève et al. 2020,24) by 2035. Another aspect of the Good Food Strategy is to promote locally grown organic food, while favouring the processing and distribution within the city.

To resume, nowadays, Brussels is not the best example in terms of food production and supply. However, different initiatives (that will be exploited later in this thesis) have been put in place to remedy that. A communication and a collaboration between the city and the hinterland seems unavoidable to attain these objectives.

Only 1.5% of the total surface of the capital is exploited for agriculture. A large fraction is located in Anderlecht, on the South-Western boundary with Flanders.

Adapted by Author, from Bruxelles Economie et Emploi, 11.07.2018.

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For the sake of this design thesis, we decided to focus our interventions on the Southern and South-Western part of Brussels’s hinterland. This area, known as the Pajottenland region, is known for its strong agricultural history, as well as its tight relation with the capital in terms of food provision.

RESEARCH QUESTION

The reconnection of the city with the food matrix is undoubtedly a catalyst for the transition of the ecosystem (Declève et al. 2020, 21), and should therefore be taken into consideration into the visions for the future.

Furthermore, the enhancement of the food self-sufficiency is a major criterion for urban resilience (Co-Create 2022).

The main question we therefore want to answer is: What are the main strategies that can be implemented around Brussels to ensure a better food provision for the capital, while enhancing the transition of productive green?

The primary objective of this thesis is to explore the landscape urbanism strategies that can be introduced within the Pajottenland region, located on the Western fringe of Brussels. The second objective is to put in place transitions within this region by creating a network of productive landscapes to enhance the capital’s sustainability, in order to, on a third step, create a network of connections between the city and the countryside to enhance the food accessibility and sovereignty of the Brussels Capital Region.

To do so, we will first focus on the landscape features of Brussels’s surroundings, as well as the history of the site, before pointing out the design explorations, the study of various patterns and the food production in the Pajottenland. The last chapter will be dedicated to the design strategies, where the final proposal will be implemented in one fragment of the landscape.

The foodscape transition exceeds the boundaries, the worlds and the capacities, to put in light fundamental questionings and concrete actions to a (re)shaping of the city more connected to land.

HYPOTHESIS

As Sebastien Marot said; “the geneses of both architecture and agriculture may be traced back to the so-called Neolithic Revolution” (Marot 2020, 17), where population were not in harmony with their direct environment, but rather in a situation of confrontation that they kept as much as possible positive (Janin 2018, 30).

As part of the history of architecture, many theories have seen the light, highlighting different aspects and connections between the city and the countryside; between architecture and agriculture. One of them has been developed in 1826 by Johann Heinrich Von Thünen, and is known as the “isolated state” (Paddeu 2021, 86). It is based on the principle of spatial specialization, where the city is surrounded by concentric circles, each of them representing a specific type of food cultivation that supply the city. “With increasing distance from the Town, the land will progressively be given up to products cheap to transport in relation to their value” (Cronon 1991, 48). It is within this concept that emerges the notions of distances between city and countryside, expressed in time and expenses devoted to transportation in this case (Cronon 1991).

Another theory, developed by Ebenezer Howard in 1902 and known as the Garden Cities of to-morrow proposes the “planned dispersal of the population from the overcrowded slums of the great industrial cities of Britain to new towns” (Viljoen, Bohn, and Howe 2005, 99), connected to each other thanks to productive green belts that represent five sixth of the total surface of the cities. “[…] the green belt around the City was for farms, market gardens, allotments and animal pasturing. As noted there, local produce would be sold to the townspeople, and farm rents provide revenue to the City, while the town’s food refuse would be used as compost for soil, thus maintaining a productive spatial, environmental and economic relationship with the town it served” (Parham 2015, 191). Howard therefore integrated morphological, economical, ecological and socio-cultural objectives within this principles (de Lestrange 2016, 175), and took advantage of the evolution of the city in the 20th Century to put in place green belts.

Nowadays, practices are more oriented towards a symbiosis between human and nature, and are directly issued from an urban culture (Janin 2018, 31). To this extent, one could cite permaculture or biological agriculture.

Permaculture is a term introduced in the 1970s by David Holmgred and Bill Mollison. It tries to break with the 17

old way of doing agriculture, based on a completely new symbiosis with it, based on an urban culture (Janin 2018, 30).

The theories and practices mentioned above highlight the connection between the city and the countryside, as well as the urbanism and the productive landscapes, allowing a better food supply to the large metropolis.

They provide an understanding of the relationship between mankind and nature, while pointing out the central place of food production within the reinvention of the city.

The major hypothesis of this thesis is that the green (nature), blue (water), yellow (agriculture) and grey (urban) systems are considered as separate

Von Thünen’s principle of the isolated state, 1826. In Cronon 1991, p.49

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entities within the Brussels hinterland. The thesis therefore proposes to create a network that would interweave these systems, while enhancing their quality, accessibility and sovereignty, thanks to the introduction of a productive layer within the existing suburban landscape of the Pajottenland region, therefore transforming it into a foodscape.

Ebenezer Howard, 1902. The Garden City Principle.

Choay 1969, p.93

A permaculture project in Brussels.

Though permaculture advocates the cultivation of food with the inherent respect of Nature, it is nonetheless not a sustainable and cost-effective solution to feed the city’s inhabitants.

Transforma Bxl. Jardin permacole.

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Understanding the challenges of Brussels’s surroundings Heritage Existing food supply chain Water security Land security

(Next double page) Feeding Brussels is an everyday challenge, hence vegetable gardening initiatives are flourishing in the capital’s borders, where the land is more suitable.

Image by Author, 2022 21

AGRICULTURAL HERITAGE

“Agriculture is undergoing an unprecedented urban revolution reflecting a profound change in civilization” – Rémi Janin (Janin 2018, 1)

Cedric Price’s “city as an egg”. ca. 2001.

Cedric Price Fonds, Canadian Center for Architecture, Montréal.

Agriculture during the Neolithic During the neolithic period till the 19th century, agriculture is the economic driver in Europe and is labor intensive, forcing people to live in the countryside.

People proceeded with modifications of the terrain in order to enhance the yield of the crops, such as irrigation, crop rotation and soil fertilization. Other interventions were unreversible, such as the clearing of wooded areas. In fact, people at this time were not in harmony with nature, but rather in a permanent confrontation that they were constantly trying to make positive (Janin 2018 and Nain et. al. 2020).

The industrial period of the 19th century and the Boerkozens The urbanization and rapid expansion of Brussels, led by the industrialization of the 19th century, had a major impact on the city and its inhabitants.

In fact, the urban expansion happened to the detriment of fertile lands, and the competition between local and exported crops has been accelerated by the development of new and faster transport systems. The development of the railway line has led to a redistribution of the lands, as well as the delocalization of the agricultural surfaces, therefore participating to the transformation of the city and its hinterland, passing from 60% of the total surface of the RBC being cultivated to 13% in the 1950s (Cahn et al. 2018, 283). The city is the concentration of the housings and the commercial activities, whereas the countryside is dedicated to agriculture and husbandry, hence allowing the formation of these cities. The train, and the transport system more generally, allow the multiplication and extension of the shops (Cahn et al. 2018, 283); that will be soon replaced by supermarkets.

At the same time, the needs for food increased, and therefore marked the development of specialized horticultural farms; led by the boerkozen; literally “marsh market gardeners” (de Lestrange, Fierens, et al. 2021, 45). This poor population installed its farms in the periphery of the capital, where the lands were less expansive and the road infrastructures more efficient. They were characterized by the farming on smaller plots (Declève et al. 2020).

After the war, the increasing competition and the economies of scale made the Brussels market unprofitable (Landbouwleven 2018).

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Brussels and its surroundings were marked by a frank zoning of the productions depending on the landscape features and the characteristics of the region. For example, Dilbeek was known for its strawberries, whereas the endives were grown in Haren and the cherries in Schaerbeek (de Lestrange, Fierens, et al. 2021, 45). The Pajottenland Region, as for it, is home of the Bretta-nomyces bruxellensis, a wild yeast used for the production of the gueuze and the lambic, two types of beers (Cahn et al. 2018, 13). This agricultural specialization spread all over Europe, as described by Von Thünen in his theory of the isolated state.

The 20th century and its NIMAculteurs The 20th century saw the emergence of a new type of farmers; the NIMAculteurs (NIMA being the abbreviation of Non-Issus du Milieu Agricole; literally “non issued from the agricultural sector”), which are the new farmers without a farming background. They are mainly represented by people living in the city who decided to change their career path.

“Not having inherited any infrastructure or land titles, they set up their operations near their community, convinced of the relevance of local supply chains” (de Lestrange, Fierens, et al. 2021, 44).

Today, these new farmers are reminiscent of the 19th century boerkozens, and are supported by the Good Food Strategy, as part of the Boeren Bruxsel Paysans (BBP) initiative. They are mainly located in Anderlecht and in the Neerpede region, on the Western part of Brussels, because of the safeguarding of the large rural areas. There, 7 hectares in total are made available by BBP (de Lestrange, Fierens, et al. 2021, 36) to support agroecology and reconnect the city with its hinterland, while preserving the neighbouring area of Neerpede.

Brussels boerkozens, 19th century. https://erfgoedbankbrussel.be/

The development of the agricultural activity, whether it be intensive, biological or vegetable gardening, represents a key aspect in the development of the city-country relationship in Brussels. This idea of interconnection between the city and the countryside, inherited from the past, where the latter helps feed the former, can be represented with Cedric Price’s metaphor of “the city as an egg”. In fact, he described the 21st century city as a scrambled egg, “where urban and natural tissues get mixed up, hybridize, and coexist, looking for a perfect harmony” (Calaza 2015, 94). On another note, the metaphor shows how the modern-day urbanization is no longer characterized by a center and a periphery, as it was the case in the ancient times and in the 19th century, but rather a space of multi-centrality, where the city and the periphery are rather considered as one entity. This vision highlights the importance of the peripheral functions, agriculture being the most important one; by considering them not as leftover spaces, but rather as important pieces of the urban puzzle.

NIMAculteur in the Neerpede region, supported by Boeren Bruxsel Paysans. https://www.boerenbruxselpaysans.be/

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EXISTING FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN Fruits and vegetables growing in and around Brussels As mentioned before, food production is related to its location and distance from the city, as Von Thünen described in his theory. “According to the scientific literature, the production of small fruits and vegetables is, with regard to practices and profitability, the most adaptable to the conditions of dense urban areas (small areas, irregular shapes, interstitial spaces, above-ground situations). Sheep farming and the cultivation of large fruits that require more surface area (between 5 and 20 hectares — ~ 12 to 49 acres — to be autonomous) are more frequent in peri-urban situations but also exist in the form of discontinuous territories in the consolidated city. Food or fodder crops and cattle breeding do not adapt well to such fragmentation (15 to 50 hectares minimum to be profitable) and are therefore, with the exception of Brussels agricultural relics, reserved for the diffuse city that extends beyond the capital’s borders” (Declève et al.

2020, 25). The variations of parcels size, as well as types of cultivation generate patterns of implementation that vary from the city to the suburbs.

For example, the city is characterized by a series of dispatched productive spaces that “fill in the blanks” in the saturated urban space. Here, in order to attain a food self-sufficiency, the notion of every soil counts (de Lestrange, Baudry, et al. 2021, 122) is highlighted. The medieval fertile lands should be re-activated because of their soil qualities.

Opposite to that, the suburban region has known a major shift at the end of the 20th century. In fact, with the urbanization of the lands beyond the capital’s boundaries, the development of the residential housing changed drastically the landscape of the suburbs, transforming the intensive agricultural lands into an extension of the living space (Rosentiehl 2018).

Progressively, the productive suburbia becomes the diffuse urban, taking place on natural lands, pushing agriculture further.

Fruits and vegetables trade In Belgium, during the pre-industrial period, food trade was largely dependent on the lifespan of the goods. The territory was therefore forged

Jan van de Velde. Markt. 1603,1633 Rijksmuseum

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depending on that fact. As an example, the urban periphery was used for the cultivation of the most perishable foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and meat. Several kilometers further, cereals and grains are grown, whereas grapes for wine are cultivated and made in very few regions but can be easily distributed thanks to their long life (Nain, Karras, and Maufroy 2020). Around the city, we can therefore find a series of concentric circles delineating several areas, each of them representing a specific type of culture depending on their lifespan. Food distribution was, on another note, provided by boats or via land track; by foot or with the use of a cart.

With the industrial revolution and the economic, technological and scientific progress that come with it, the food distribution system changed progressively. The Belgian territory is the second one to be industrialized, during the end of the 18th century (Nain, Karras, and Maufroy 2020, 25).

The development of the railway system allowed a de-centralization of the production to reduce the costs. The long distances are hence travelled within a smaller amount of time, and the progress made in terms of food conservation thanks to cold storage provoke the importation of perishable goods from farther away, creating a disequilibrium for the small producers (Nain, Karras, and Maufroy 2020, 31).

Nowadays, food is one of the most pollutant sectors, being responsible for “approximately a third of carbon dioxide emissions in Belgium and a quarter of the overall environmental impact of Brussels households” (Declève et al. 2020, 75). Short supply chain and alternatives to globalization are a first step towards the reduction of the greenhouse gases generated by the production, transformation and distribution of food; whilst proposing better and local products.

Short supply chain is an alternative distribution system that tries to reduce the number of intermediaries between the producer and the consumer to the maximum. It emerged as a reaction to globalization and the anonymous relations it generates (Jacques and Moritz 2019, 16).

The interest and request for local and organic food is in constant rise over the last 15 years. “These products are sold in highly segmented and diversified markets comprising numerous distribution channels (supermarkets, openair markets, hard discounters, grocery shops, etc.), vying to outdo each

The food Production Chain in Brussels and its suburbs Adapted by Author from: De Lestrange, Roselyne. Agriculture Transition agricultures & emerging landscapes. In Designing Brussels Ecosystems. P.26-27.

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The Grand Place of Brussels during market days. Circa 1900-1920.

Erfgoedbankbrussels.be

Food market of the Place Anneessens.

Circa 1905.

Erfgoedbankbrussels.be

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The Halles Saint Gery in the center of Brussels, not far from the Grand Place.

Image by Author, 2022

other. This competition is not only about price, of course, but also about accessibility, range, etc” (de Lestrange, Fierens, et al. 2021, 48). Next to this will to eat better, different projects have been put in place, such as “shortsupply chain, bio supermarkets, food cooperatives, solidarity purchasing groups, workshops and awareness-raising on sustainable food, etc.” (de Lestrange et al. 2020, 131). These new requests from the population have triggered the creation of different initiatives, while providing alternatives to the conventional distribution systems. To this extent, one could cite the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) among other.

Food distribution THE MARKETS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE URBAN FABRIC Among the different distribution systems, the markets is one of the oldest and most important commercial structure. There, traders and producers were able to sell their products. The food provision of the population was largely dependent of the markets, and the abundance and variety of the products exposed there (Knaepen, Loir, and Wilkin 2018).

The urban fabric of Brussels at the beginning of the 18th century was constrained by the second belt surrounding the capital, and is characterized by a limited width of the mobility infrastructures, which make it difficult for the road markets to be well developed. To solve these problems, solutions have been put in place and can be divided into three categories; the rearrangement of the market days and times, the space of the market and what it implies in terms of urban furniture, and finally the regulation of the traffic (Knaepen, Loir, and Wilkin 2018, 99). These interventions had a direct impact on the city, while enhancing the quality of the food distribution in Brussels. Other analysis took place in the 19th century, and thus have initiated a transition from the distribution in a public space - the road - to a private space - the shop - (Knaepen, Loir, and Wilkin 2018), as a consequence of the rapid and large population growth.

With this constant concern of hygiene, beautification, sanitation and urban development of the city (Knaepen, Loir, and Wilkin 2018), the creation of covered markets marked an important transition of the food distribution in Brussels.

In fact, when the markets were taking place on the roads and the pedestrian pathways, mainly on the lower part of the city, like for example within the Grand Place. At that time, each road was hosting a particular kind of commodity during market days. For instance, one could find a market for the butter, flowers, potatoes, fish, livestock and food for livestock (Knaepen, Loir, and Wilkin 2018, 126). This specialization in the products has resulted in a high competition between the sellers.

Though the markets today took different shapes and changed locations, we still see their influence within the capital, mainly in the neighbourhood surrounding the Grand Place, where the names of the road still bear the names of the products that were once sold there. One could cite for example the Rue au Beurre (butter road), rue du marché aux grains (grains market road) or even Rue aux fleurs (flowers road).

FROM OPEN-AIR TO COVERED; BIRTH OF THE HALLES As mentioned before, Brussels underwent a large population growth during the 18th century, which affected heavily the open air markets; their localisation, their number and their requirements in terms of hygiene and food distribution efficiency.

As a consequence, the mid-19th century saw the emergence of a new kind of selling center; the halles. This concept was inspired by Parisian examples and aimed at grouping the retail shops under one roof, hence removing them from the roads and squares. Following this principle, it was first planned to build four halles,each of them ensuring the supply of one part of the city. This would have allowed the transition from a concentration of the markets in the center of the capital to a decentralization of the activity, as well as the passage from a specificity of the products to a variety within each halle. In the covered markets, sellers and buyers were able to trade without undergoing the “the bad weather of the seasons, the most disgusting uncleanness and the danger resulting from the incessant passage of cars” (Knaepen, Loir, and Wilkin 2018, 128). The open air markets were therefore a smart solution for hygiene and products distribution.

Though the project of the four halles did not see the light, or, at least, at it was supposed to be, some covered markets were built in Brussels, the Marché de la Madeleine being the most famous.

However, the covered markets did not have the desired effect, because the commercial expectations were not met.

Food consumption As Carolyn Steel mentioned in her book Sitopia, how food can save the World, “[food] is by far the most powerful medium available to us for thinking and acting together to change the world for the better. Food has shaped our bodies, habits, societies and environments since long before our ancestors were human” (Steel 2020, 11). Over time, and with the movement of people from rural places to cities, the global diet has changed.

We now consume more processed food or meat. The FAO predict that the global dairy and meat consumption would double by 2050 (Steel 2020, 21), while at the same time people and initiatives put in place strategies towards a food resilience.

In fact, the over-consumption adopted by today’s society has a direct impact on the resources depletion and climate change. It is now time to invert the tendency and go back to a traditional food chain that respects the land and the environment.

To sum up, the existing food chain in Brussels has progressively changed throughout the century. We are now at a major shift, where people tend to consume better and locally grown food, which is an opportunity for the transformation of the chain and the ways of living at the same time, in order to tackle present and future challenges.

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WATER SECURITY The question of water security is central in Brussels, since the urbanization of the city and its extension during the past centuries has increased the degree of imperviousness of the surfaces; hence reducing rainwater infiltration, leading to its evacuation via the main sewage system (Bruxelles Environnement 2010).

As a result, rainwater is mixed with greywater issued from housings and industries, and its filtration through water treatments plants becomes more complicated because of the high volume it represents, leading to its release in the rivers and waterways without being filtered (Bruxelles Environnement 2010), leading to a reduction of the water quality in the capital. Furthermore, the use of rainwater in the capital is still marginal. In fact, only 16% of the capital’s population is exploiting this resource (Bruxelles Environnement 2021).

Moreover, and next to this issue of water quality, the supply of drinkable water to the inhabitants for their daily life practices becomes more and more difficult because of the pollution of the soils and the surface water, making water security particularly vulnerable in the capital. Along with that, water consumption in the settlements is increasing. In 2020, it was 98.8 liters per person and per day on average for the inhabitants of Brussels.

To conclude, the increase of impervious cover, as well as the overuse of drinkable water and the reduced technologies to filter and store rainwater are all challenges that should be tackled to ensure a better water provision to the capital. A solution would be to exploit the potential of rainwater, as well as the filtering and reuse of greywater, leading to a circular management of the resource.

Water security is put under threat. It is therefore important to find solutions to reuse it and reduce our consumption.

Image by Author, 2022

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LAND SECURITY The question of land access was triggered with the construction of the capitalist city. The objective is to understand how the access to land in the city, in contradiction with access to the city, constitutes a right to the fertile soil and legal usage of the urban soil (Paddeu 2021, 224). As Paddeu mentioned in her book Sous les pavés, la terre, “Cultivate in the ruins of the urban capitalism opens then the question not only to the ‘right to the city’, i.e. the claim to a ‘fundamental and radical shaping power over the processes of urbanization, meaning over the ways in which our cities are constantly being transformed’, but of a right to land in the city” (Paddeu 2021, 224). It is important to understand this nuance, since agriculture is facing a large land shortage in the city, and is often landlocked in-between buildings or on top of them. The suburban space hence appears like the solution for the development of agricultural structures, thanks to its openness and soil fertility.

As Christine Leconte and Sylvain Grisot point out: “by pointing out the idea of a public space ‘for everyone’, we have in fact too often organized spaces ‘for some’. It is not a return to the street of the past, it’s the street of tomorrow, to be made today. A street adapted to everyone and to the challenges of the century; free of dangerous flows, uncluttered by parking and forests of bollards, planted, shaded, permeable, with no break in levels, lit, safe, equipped with seats as well as public toilets...” (Leconte, Gristo 2022, 62). The city has to face the challenges of today and tomorrow. it is important to highlight the important of access to land in the city, which allow a better cooperation and collaboration between the inhabitants and their living environment.

There’s a difference between access to the city and access to land in the city, and agriculture should be deployed while keeping in mind the second thought.

Image by Author, 2022 31

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Design explorations - Pajottenland region History of the Pajottenland Region Regionaal Landschapplan Pajottenland & Zennevallei Existing initiatives

(Next double page) The diversity of atmospheres and landscapes make the richness of the Pajottenland region and anchor it in the food supply concern.

Image by Author, 2022 33

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HISTORY OF THE PAJOTTENLAND REGION

“ To do right by nature and people in the country, one has to do right by them in the city as well, for the two seem always to find in each other their own image. In that sense, every city is nature’s metropolis, and every piece of countryside its rural hinterland” - William Cronon. (Cronon 1991, 385)

The Pajottenland Region is located on the Western fringe of Brussels. Geographers situate it at the interstice between the Dender and the Senne rivers on the West and the East, and on the South thanks to the border between Flanders and Wallonia (Antrop and Rogge 2006, 383), and is characterized by a hilly landscape. The loamy soil of the region makes it particularly fertile and adapted for cultivation, making it the land of the boerkozens; horticulturists who did not specialize in one variety of cultivation but rather divided their plots into smaller parcels to vary their production.

The history of the Pajottenland played an important role in the development of the capital city, particularly thanks to its land characteristics and the presence of large agricultural lands and infrastructures. Though Brussels does not have an important landscape identity like it is the case for the surrounding regions, it is nonetheless the combination of interweaving landscapes, surrounded by humid landscapes, natural reserves, or qualitative agricultural valleys such as the Pajottenland (Loeckx 2015, 45).

The particularity of the region is that it managed to keep its landscape identity and simplicity in a unique landscape, despite the context of urbanization in Flanders. The preservation of its rural character is largely attributable to the permanent, strong anchoring of a typical family and land-based agriculture, so that the healthy connection between soil conditions and land use was preserved (Sint Pietes Leeuw, n.d).

On the other hand, the large agricultural parcels and the system of landscapes parks it hosts, as well as the lack of clear-cut separation between it and the Brussels Capital Region, makes it an ideal landscape to ensure the communication between both regions, whether they be via the landscape or food-related.

The bocage landscape, its character as a semi-closed landscape marked by the presence of tee lines, hedgerows and bushes, as well as forest pockets, reveals is strong character, which falls under a composition compared to a mosaic.

The past history of food distribution from the Pajottenland region to the neighbouring capital thanks to the 19th century boerkozens, the present character of the landscape with the hilly topography, the suitable soils and the large agriculture parcels, the many initiatives led in the region in terms of food production and transition, are as many elements that let us prove the strong potential of the site.

Food-related infrastructures and lifestock cohabit next to housings and large intensive agriculture plots.

Image by Author, 2022.

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The bocage landscape of the Pajottenland.

Image by Author, 2022.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Harvesters, 1565. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Bruegel was inspired by the unique landscape of the Pajottenland for some of his paintings.

Available online: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435809

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REGIONAAL LANDSCHAP PAJOTTENLAND & ZENNEVALLEI Flanders is covered by 16 associations aiming at developing activities while promoting nature and biodiversity; the Regional Landschap Pajottenland & Zennevallei being one of them.

The association is working on a more qualitative landscape in the regions of the Pajottenland and the Senne Valley, while focusing on the preservation of nature, as well as heritage and regional identity.

Farmers landscape park Borerenlandschappark The strategic location of the Pajottenland, at the border with Brussels, and its unique characteristic as a relatively intact landscape, makes it a territory to preserve and enhance.

The land pressure and agricultural exploitation of the last centuries raise questions about their impact on the landscape and its biodiversity, putting it under threat.

At the same time, the number of citizens willing to consume better while knowing where their products come from is in constant rise, leading to the emergence of short-chain supply, creating a “strong local embedding of agriculture and food production, of a reconnection of the places of food production and consumption, and of the reconnection of food producers with eaters and vice versa” (Flemish Rural Network, n.d).

The objective of the Boerenlandschap project is therefore to create the dynamics of connections between the liveable city and the agricultural region of the Pajottenland, while putting food as the main connecting agent. While relying on generic concepts such as landscape park and food park, the ambition is to enhance the landscape in the region, as well as tourism and recreation, and to enhance the quality of life of the region’s inhabitants.

Landscape park The landscape quality is at the core of the Regionaal Landschap Pajottenland & Zennevallei activities, which is preparing its application to become a landscape park, a label developed by the Flemish government (De Lestrange, Fierens 2021, 123), under the name of Boerenlandschap Pajottenland. The ambition is to strengthen the landscape identity and quality of the region.

This landscape park can be linked to the Brussels Capital Region, via the Neerpede site on the Western fringe of the capital.

Food landscape Apart from the landscape quality of the Pajottenland, the food landscape has been introduced and recognized by the Flemish government, VLM 38

(Vlaamse Land Maatschappij), which states that “​​A food landscape is an open space area where local collaborations tackle different open space challenges: local food production and sales, a more beautiful landscape, more biodiversity, climate measures, accessibility of the countryside and associated experience, production of renewable energy, good soil and water management, … The role of farmers is central to this. A food landscape starts from a collaboration between farmers thems e lves and between farmers, local policy, local social actors and/or local entrepreneurs” (Flemish Land Agency, n.d.).

It aims at “revitalising and including agriculture as a driving force for territorial improvement” (De Lestrange, Fierens. 2021. 124).

To sum up, the ambitions of the Regionaal Landschap Pajottenland & Zennevallei is to reconnect its territory with the consumer capital, while enhancing its landscape quality and putting food in the center of the reflection. This initiative can be compared to another one, located in Liège and its suburbs, and known as the “Ceinture Alimen-Terre” which can be translated as “food and land belt”.

Liège’s Ceinture Alimen-Terre (CATL) The ambition of the food belts, whether they be in Liège or in Namur, Charleroi or Ath among others, is to feed a territory’s inhabitants with high quality and locally grown food, while pointing out the interrelations and knowledge between the different actors; producers, distributors and consumers.

Another key aspect of the food and land belts is to tackle ecological issues linked to the food industry, caused by the over emission of greenhouses gases due to the use of pesticides, fertilizers, as well as transportation and livestock surplus (En marche, 2019).

In Liège, the success of the CATL relies on the capacity to identify the missing links between the actors to supply the population’s needs, which has been tackled thanks to the implementation of community supported initiatives.

To conclude, Flanders and Wallonia have put in place a series of initiatives aiming at putting food in the center of the activities. They both propose new alternatives to the conventional way of cultivating, which help enhance the communication between urban and rural centers on the one hand, and the different actors of the food supply chain on the other.

Such initiatives can be reproduced and linked to Brussels, where the relation with its hinterland is fundamental to ensure its food provision.

The aim of this thesis is therefore to introduce new ways of living, producing and consuming. It emphasises the exploitation of underused spaces while enriching the suburban food network.

The Regionaal Landschap Pajottenland & Zennevallei, landscape vision for 2040.

Lennik.be, Strategisch project opgewekt Pajottenland

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EXISTING INITIATIVES Good Food Strategy Food provision has always been an important challenge for the Brussels Capital Region (RBC). In fact, with the expansion of the city beyond it historical limits and the progressive encroachment on agricultural parcels, coupled with the constant rise of buildings and therefore the decrease of open spaces that serve as potentials to exploit, food has been pushed beyond the limits of the urban fabric or now hosts fringes of the built tissue.

It is within this context that the capital’s government has put in place the Good Food Strategy. It aims at supplying the capital with fresh and locally grown fruits and vegetables. To attain this objective, it plans on producing 30% of the fruits and vegetables needs locally, or within a 10km radius around the capital.

Thanks to the implementation of “a series of ‘from farm to fork’ measures with very specific goals to be achieved by 2020” (Ronsmans 2016, 3), the Good Food Strategy managed to develop urban agriculture, create a network of production and promote locally grown food, among other measures. It has also put in place in Neerpede, on the Western fringe of the capital, a productive network known as Boeren Bruxsel Paysans, while changing the conditions to land access to create a food basin.

Map of the existing projects in Neerpede, at the border between Brussels and Flanders.

Baptiste Véroone In Lestrange et. al. 2021, p.16 40

The strategy allowed the implementation of a real dynamic of transition of the food system in the RBC (goodfood.brussels, n.d). With the 1.2 million Brussels eaters, the potential for food production in the Pajottenland is high.

Boeren Bruxsel Paysans Boeren Bruxsel Paysans works as a catalyst for the transition of the RBC towards more sustainable food systems.

Implemented in the Neerpede and Vogelenzang valleys on the Western fringe of the capital, the pilot project provides spaces, infrastructures and support for the production, processing and distribution of locally grown fruits, vegetables and aromatic herbs.

It aims at supporting short-chain initiatives to propose local, better quality and affordable food for all the Brussels population, thanks to the implementation of agricultural test-spaces (that allows to evaluate an agricultural activity in a secure environment while proposing support and land provision) and processing centers (dedicated to transform cultivated food into meals).

Apart from the promotion of better quality and locally grown food, as well as the implementation of agricultural test spaces and the financial help needed for horticulturists to begin their production, other initiatives saw the light, and are related to the food distribution and consumption chain link. In fact, market gardeners implemented in and around the city have the opportunity to sell their products directly on the land, thanks to a distribution network, such as the GASAP and the CSAs. They are also able to supply semi-wholesales, such as grocery shops, hotels and restaurants (De Lestrange, Fierens, 2021).

GASAP GASAP Stands for “Groupes d’Achat Solidaires de l’Agriculture Paysanne” which can be translated literally to “Purchasing Groups of Solidarity of Peasant Agriculture”. The principle of the GASAP is that a group of individuals financially supports producers via a long-term involvement, while, in return, the farmer is engaged to produce with the respect of the land and provide the group with weekly baskets. This initiative helps support local production, while favorizing short-chain supplies and ensuring a better food provision (Cahn et. al. 2018, 185).

Community Supported Agriculture - CSA The objectives of the distribution initiative are to buy directly to one producer via a short-chain system, while paying a fair price to the producer,

propose locally fruits and vegetables that respect the environment, promote the auto-management of the organization by the producers and/ or the consumers, and finally put in place an engagement over the long term (Le réseau des GASAP, 2013).

Unlike the GASAP, the Community Supported Agriculture proposes selfpickup, which means that the consumers are able to pick up their products directly on the land in exchange of a monthly or yearly contribution.

This model helps increase the turnover per unit of work, thanks to the reduction of the post-harvesting work, such as the preparation of the order, packaging, etc... which represent the third of the working time (De Lestange, Fierens, 2021). Furthermore, the consumer does not only pay for a product, but rather for a system, which tends to be reproduced in all socio-economic environments of Brussels and its surrounding hinterland.

To conclude, the different initiatives put in place to propose alternatives for every food chain link are proliferating in Brussels and other large cities.

They help promote new ways of producing while ensuring a financial support to the farmers. This can help reduce the number of producers who decide to stop their activities because of a lack of means.

The 2020 pandemic also proved that it is now time to react to promote short-chain initiatives and embed food production within the urban context.

Community Supported Agriculture site CourJette (Jette, Brussels) Drawing by Author

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Design strategies

Understanding the rhizome Main design strategies Building up the rhizome Matrices, patches and corridors Vogelenzang, a territory in transition

(Next double page) The Vogelenzang bocage and hilly landscape make it particularly adapted for cultivation, though the territory endured a series of modifications throughout time.

Image by Author, 2022 43

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“ Agriculture on the scale of each farm must then be able to propose new nourishing landscapes, oriented towards diversified, qualitative and above all local productions. Agriculture is a local and logically renewable resource that finds its primary meaning at this scale. Each farm must therefore consider its autonomy and the internal complementarity of its productions, or find in the nearby territory what it cannot produce for its needs, whether it is for feeding livestock, litter or crop fertilization.” . - Rémi Janin (Janin 2018, 35)

The agricultural field is essential for the population, however, in Belgium, it is not sustainable. In fact, in average, every week over the last 30 years: - 43 farms disappeared - 62 farmers changed their professional orientation - 8% of the farmers are less than 40 years old.

(numbers are taken from Groupes d’Achat Solidaires de l’Agriculture Paysanne. 2018.

“GASAP Café - Procès-Verbal”. 28.11.2018.)

The situation is alarming, it is therefore important to act now to reverse the trend. To do so, it is important to put in place a series of initiatives and strategies at different scales to tackle the many food-related and urban issues.

For the design part of the thesis, we identified a fragment of the territory, regrouping the Southern and South-Western part of Brussels’s suburban landscape.

The site location has not been chosen randomly. In fact, the area known as the Pajottenland Region, is, as mentioned above, characterized by a long history of food production and trade to the capital.

Agricultural diversity Corn Grain

As a first step, we will identify the potential of a part of the region, materialized by a 8*8 kilometers landscape located at the boundary between Brussels and its South-Western hinterland. At this scale, we identified the site’s potentials while envisioning a food-oriented urban transition.

Forage Potatoes Sugar beets Flax and hemp

As a second step, within this landscape, three segments of 2*2 kilometers each have been spotted. The ambition here is to have an overview of the territory and its potentialities, while proposing an analysis and a design on a smaller fragments; Vogelenzang. The ambition at the smaller scale is to point out particular landscape features and to enhance their quality thanks to the implementation of a food network, while tackling larger issues related to biodiversity, ecology and urban fabric. Each of the segments responds to different landscape characteristics, and can therefore meet the main objectives thanks to different strategies, leading to the deployment of an agroecological foodscape within the hinterland.

Vegetable herb and ornament Woody crops Fruits and nuts Agricultural infrastructure Other crops Grassland The highly productive Pajottenland Region represents a great potential for transition at different scales.

Map by Author, underlayer of Google Earth 2022.

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UNDERSTANDING THE RHIZOME

In 1987, Guattari and Deleuze launch their book A Thousand Plateaus, in which they introduce the notion of rhizome, that they identified thanks to 6 principles; connectivity, heterogeneity, multiplicity, signifying rupture, cartography and decalcomania. “The rhizome is a relation, a network like that of roots. They spread underground with no direction, no beginning, and no end. They are dispersed. It is opposed to the idea of a tree which has a starting point, and from there branches out in a predictable path. When compared to the relation between things, a rhizome forms assemblages. An assemblage is a gathering and grouping of things” (Estrella 2013).

On the urban scale, the rhizome can be compared to a green positive parasite “invading” the territory unevenly.

The parasite in question would try to infiltrate all the fringes of the land, and install itself whenever possible; in the teeth or the empty spaces of the urban fabric, along the railway lines or the highways, in the interstices of the industrial infrastructures, and even on top of the existing intensive agriculture sites. The rhizome thus created allows a transition of the existing suburban landscape of Brussels - from landscape to foodscape - , therefore adding a food layer that was once forgotten on top of the present condition.

The interventions aim at creating new opportunities across scales, while introducing mutually beneficial collaboration of the commonly shared infrastructures. These infrastructures will, on the short term, help food provision to the capital’s society, while provoking encounters between the suburban neighbourhoods’ inhabitants and providing people with locally grown and better quality food. On the long term, they will help build a water, land and food security.

Guattari and Deleuze idea of the rhizome in “A thousand plateaus”, 1987.

Available online: https://www.iaacblog. com/programs/rhizome-deleuze-guattari/

Richard Giblett Recent work : 2006-2009 Represented by Galerie Dusseldorf 21.

Mycelium Rhizome, 2009 Pencil on paper 120 x 240 cm Collection of the artist Represented by Galerie Dusseldorf.

Available online: https://literariness. o rg / 2 0 1 7 / 0 4 / 2 6 / t h e - p h i l o s o p h i c a lconcept-of-rhizome/#jp-carousel-9445 50

Existing Agriculture

The rhizome takes advantage of the existing conditions to be deployed.

Here, the existing agriculture and its different kinds of culture forms a basis for the development.

The existing agricultural network of Brussels’s hinterland.

Made by Author, adapted from geopunt. vlaanderen database

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Potentials for rhizome development Another layer can be added on top of the existing agriculture, and concerns the industrial sites, the oversized infrastructures, the open public spaces, the inner plots, the private gardens, as well as the parks and domains.

These territories form a network of potentialities for the rhizome to unfold.

The network of potentialities for the rhizome to unfold Made by Author, adapted from geopunt. vlaanderen database

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MAIN DESIGN STRATEGIES For the rhizome to expand progressively and harmoniously within the territory, a series of rules have been put in place and must be respected as much as possible. They concern different elements of the fabric, divided into four categories: Agriculture, Nature, Infrastructure and Urban fabric. Some exceptions can be applied, on a case-by-case basis and depending on the inner characteristics of each situation.

FROM INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE TO POLYCULTURE

EXPANDING AND ENRICHING NATURE

CONVERTING AND REDUCING INFRASTRUCTURE

TRANSFORMING URBAN FABRIC

1 Agricultural parcels should be transformed into agroecological productive lands thanks to a process of transition to ensure their sustainability and resilience in the long term.

3 Following the 2100 flood previsions, potentially flooded areas are transformed into wetlands (mainly along the watersheds), as long as they do not affect existing productive or residential developments.

6 The existing open landscape should be exploited and work as catalyst for urban production, and this at different levels and scales - The open public spaces -T he underutilized open infrastructures -T he schools, sports facilities and other social infrastructure that can function as hubs for agroecological development.

9 The urban fabric is in transition with the landscape. Interstices in the urban tissue, as well as demolished buildings are replaced by agroecological features.

4 Gentle slopes are planted with fruit trees to re-enhance the traditional orchard landscape, especially if they are Southfacing.

industrial/commercial 7 The sites or wastelands that will progressively disappear to make place for production land and/or processing and distribution hubs.

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A part of the inner plots that can be shifted into semi-public/ collective spaces of production.

This would enhance the sense of community while increasing the food provision within the neighbourhoods.

5 Steep slopes are a threat for erosion and therefore drought of the land. They will therefore be planted to avoid erosion, drought, while enhancing biodiversity.

possible, the 8 Whenever oversized infrastructures are shifted into linear pedestrian alleys, or host tree lines, bioswales and water retention areas.

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If there’s a need for a foodrelated social infrastructures (producing, processing or distribution centers), they have to be integrated within abandoned buildings or be built within the urban fabric to keep the agricultural parcels as intact as possible.

2 The border between plots is adapted with tree lines, hedgerows or flowers to enhance biodiversity and bring back the bocage landscape that was so characteristic of the region.

New building typologies are also exploited to satisfy the population’s needs while enhancing the food network.

These interventions are part of the process of transition of the city; from landscape to foodscape. They are done progressively, depending on the opportunities, and can happen independently from each other.

Phase 3 - The transformation of the territory and the expansion of the rhizome thanks to the main design strategies.

Drawing by Author.

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Phase 1 - The process of evolution starts with punctual interventions and building transitions towards the host of the productive feature.

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Phase 2 - Progressively, food takes bgger space in the urban fabric and on top of the existing agriculture, transforming the landscape.

Drawing by Author 55

Reference project Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (CPULS) The Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) is a concept developed by André Viljoen and Katrin Bohn. It is the contraction of the sustainable concept of Productive Urban Landscape and the spacial concept of Continuous Landscapes (Viljoen, Bohn and Howe, 2005, 11), and proposes a new design strategy that will drastically change the image of the city, to a more naturalist one. CPULs are “designed to encourage and allow urban dwellers to observe activities and processes traditionally associated with the countryside, thereby re-establishing a relationship between life and the processes required to support it” (Viljoen, Bohn and Howe, 2005, xviii).

CPULs are projected to run into the inner-city, exploiting its open spaces, passing through the built environment and connecting them to the surrounding rural area. The ambition is to transform the city into a more open and wild landscape.

The particularity of the CPULs is that they can adapt to all kinds of cultural, scale or economic situations (Viljoen, Bohn and Howe, 2005). It is therefore a systemic project aiming at the coherent and structuring integration of agriculture in the urban space (De Lestrange et.al. 2021. 116). The ambition is to connect different parts of the city thanks to a productive network, while working via a public-private partnership, hence enhancing the collaboration between local stakeholders and the inhabitants.

As Viljoen et.al. (2005) mention: “CPULs will be productive in various ways, offering space for leisure and recreational activities, access routes, urban green lungs, etc. But most uniquely, they will be productive by providing open space for urban agriculture, for the inner-urban and peri-urban growing of food. The urban land itself, as well as the activity happening on it, will become productive: occupants will act and produce on the ground and with the ground” (Viljoen, Bohn and Howe, 2005, 11).

The CPUL intervenes at different scales . “At the micro level, CPULs are deployed through vegetable gardens in public parks, the cultivation of interiors of blocks, open spaces of public or corporate land, or through the development of productive and ecological solutions for off-soil agriculture” (Declève et . al. 2020, 29).

It is in line with these ambitions and strategies that the CPUL can be compared to a rhizomatic structure expanding along the territory. The implementation of a yellow network such as the CPUL in Brussels seems unevitable to ensure its survival.

This thesis hence aims at reproducing the notions and concepts of the CPUL, taking as a starting point the food production and provision, while proposing its expansion in the Pajottenland Region.

This will increase the relationship between the capital and its hinterland, while ensuring the former’s food provision.

Bohn & Viljoen Architects, Urban Farming Project Middlesbrough (2006-7).

This opportunity Map was part of Middlesbrough Council’s public consultation program.

Available online: http://bohnandviljoen. co.uk/practice/urban-farming-projectmiddlesbrough-2006-7/ 56

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BUILDING UP THE RHIZOME The objective of the design strategy is to investigate new forms of agroecological urbanism within Brussels’s hinterland, that is built on existing initiatives and social synergies.

The intention is to increase the agricultural culture and heritage into the urban fabric and the landscape with a rich potential, through a variety of urban agriculture interventions. The intervention is keen on identifying new potentialities within the suburban fabric, into a cross-scalar and mutually beneficial collaboration and contribution. The existing initiatives and infrastructures are enhanced to operate within an intricate network of educational and leisure activities related to food and cultivation.

The expansion of the rhizome is ensured thanks to a series of transformations occurring on the site at different scales. The intensive agriculture parcels as well as the implemented productive gardens work as incentives for future transformations.

The schools, the sport facilities, the existing initiatives work as catalyst for the development of the rhizome. They represent hubs, important nodes for the root expansion.

The potentially flooded areas are dug to allow water catchment and therefore prevent water shortage during drought and inundations during heavy rainfall events.

The oversized infrastructures, the underused open spaces and the industrial and commercial sites, as well as the inner plots and the private gardens, host new ways of living and producing in the urbanized world.

The whole is designed to enhance the quality of the landscape and its bocage character, while ensuring a food provision and anticipate the future needs.

Although the main objective is to re-think the ways of producing, by passing from a intensive agriculture to a cultivation that respects more nature and contribute to its enhancement, the ambition is to think about new ways of living and more around in Brussels’s hinterland, while tackling issues related to urbanization and industrialization and protecting the ecosystem to ensure a water, food and land security on the longer term.

Existing landscapes Agriculture Water

The aspiration is to create a better and healthier environment of the inhabitants, while taking food chain as a catalyst for these transformations.

Forest Rhizome development

The rhizome is bold.

Compared to a positive parasite being deployed in the territory, it settles in all the fringes, whether they be large or smaller. It adapts to its environment and enhances the quality of the landscape. It helps produce better and local food, to ensure Brussels’s and its hinterland food provision. It joins together education, leisure and sense of community thanks to a common subject: agriculture. And finally, the rhizome, like the CPUL, re-establishes the missing link between the city and its hinterland.

The rhizome expands within the territory, exploiting all its fringes. It is not limited to a certain linguistic or administrative border, and can therefore potentially spread all over the Brussels Capital Region. The metropolitan landscape is therefore the result of cooperations between different networks; the green (natural), blue (humid), grey (urban and infrastructural) and yellow (agricultural) (Lockx 2015, 52), interweaving and being superimposed to create a unique foodscape.

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Industrial building Industrial parcel Water catchment Oversized infrastructure Food hub The exploitation of oversized infrastructures as well as underused public open spaces, as well as the forward looking of the urban and industrial transformation allows the deployment of the rhizome in the fringes of the territory.

This structure happens thanks to the main design strategies mentioned before and occurring at different scales.

Map by Author.

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Vogelenzang

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Drogenbos

MATRICES, PATCHES AND CORRIDORS

“How to point out the characteristic of a territory and what differs them from each other?” - This question has triggered me since the beginning of my studies and still triggers me today. Looking at aerial images or from the window of a place, I have always been fascinated by the arrangement of the landscape; the urban tissue, the roads, the agriculture, as well as the water network and the forests. By analysing the territory more in detail, one is able to highlight its specificity and what makes it different from another.

Richard TT Forman is considered as the forerunner of landscape ecology, that he defines as the ecology of landscapes, where “ecology is generally defined as the study of the interactions among organisms and their environment” (Forman 2006, 19), and the landscape as a “kilometers-wide mosaic over which local ecosystems recur” (Forman 2006, 20).

In order to analyse the land use planning, Forman puts in place a series of tools, the most effective one being the aerial image that allows the analysis of the landscape mosaic. “Since a mosaic at any scale may be composed of patches, corridors and matrix, they are the basic spatial elements of any pattern on land. Thus, landscape elements are simply spatial elements at the landscape scale. They may be of natural or human origin, and thus apply to the spatial pattern of different ecosystems, community types, successional stages, or land uses” (Forman 2006, 7). The mosaic thus created is determined by the grain and the hierarchy on land. The grains refers to the “coarseness of in texture or granularity of spatial elements composing an area” (Forman 2006, 10).

The landscape mosaic is at the human scale, and is characterized by the combination of patches and corridors, within a background matrix, the latter being the “background ecosystem or land-use type in a mosaic, characterized by extensive cover, high connectivity, and/or major control over dynamics” (Forman 2006, 39).

The matrix represents the highest landscape cover of the mosaic, however it is not easy to be identified because it depends on the scales and can even fade away to make place to the patches and corridors.

The patches are the different ecological units relatively homogeneous that can be differentiated in the territory.

They are characterized by their size and shape, as well as the quality of their edges. The shape is highly influenced by human activity and is highly important. The more complex the shape, the higher the interactions with the surrounding landscape (De Lestrange 2016, 153).

The corridors are the linear elements of the matrix, and create more or less continuous connections between the patches. The have give main functions; habitat, conduit, filter, source and sink (Forman 2006, 148).

Having in mind the theory about matrices, patches and corridors, the idea is to analyse fragments of Brussels’s surrounding following the criteria mentioned above, in order to understand the characteristics of the site we are focusing on for this design thesis.

Matrices, patches and corridors.

In Forman, Richard TT. 1996. Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning, p.49

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To do so, we identified three fragments of the territory, each of them representing an area of 2*2 kilometers.

the Zuun river stream, as well as forest patches along the stream and large agricultural matrix, dispatched by some urban development.

The first square is located on the Southern part of Brussels, in the region of Drogenbos, and is characterized by its proximity with the Canal, as well as the presence of industrial sites and the meandering Senne river.

The second is located in Sint Pieters Leeuw, and is mainly composed of

The third and last focus area is located along the Vogelenzang, and is at the South-Western boundary between Brussels and the Flemish Brabant.

Here, large commercial infrastructures are coexisting with important urban development and agricultural lands.

The following pages present a deeper analysis of the three fragments.

Large grain patches at the backyard of residential neighbourhoods.

Image by Author, 2022.

Agricultural parcels divided by fences or hedgerows.

Image by Author, 2022.

Corridors along landscape diversity.

Image by Author, 2022.

Water corridor dividing the territory while enhancing its quality.

Image by Author, 2022.

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Zoom 1 - Drogenbos

Agricultural diversity

The site is crossed by the Canal and the Senne river, as well as smaller riverbed cutting the territory into different landscapes.

Corn Grain

The agricultural pattern goes hand in hand with the draining system of the alluvial plain. The width of the plots is determined by the landscape system, hence extending in-between rivers and historical infrastructures.

Forage Potatoes

Historic meadows which have later been drained and transformed into a barcode of productive landscapes. Allotments take place on the pleateaus and developed around the historic center, being in contradiction with the productive valley.

Sugar beets Flax and hemp Vegetable herb and ornament

New industrial sites along the Canal replaced former agricultural lands, therefore reducing the access to arable land.

Woody crops Fruits and nuts Agricultural infrastructure Other crops Grassland Subsurface composition Coarse sand Fine sand Loam Loamy clay Alluvial clay

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Zoom 2 - Sint Pieters Leeuw

The site is crossed by the Zuun river, which is a tributary of the Vogelenzangbeek.

Agricultural diversity Corn

Forest patches are located along the riverbeds and wetlands, hence working as drainage systems of the alluvial floodplain.

Grain Forage

The historical pattern is still visible today, though some forests disappeared to make place to grasslands and tree lines as separation mean between parcels, enhancing the bocage landscape of the territory. The productive parcels in-between the two riverbeds underwent a series of redevelopments and divisions into smaller parcels.

Potatoes Sugar beets Flax and hemp

The old radial development around the church has been replaced by ribbon development and dense urban blocks.

Vegetable herb and ornament Woody crops Fruits and nuts Agricultural infrastructure Other crops Grassland Subsurface composition Coarse sand Fine sand Loam Loamy clay Alluvial clay

Ferraris map, 1777 Geopunt.vlaanderen

Deep section - vertical exaggeration *5 Made by Author, adapted from 3D Subsurface 66

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Zoom 3 - Vogelenzang

Forest patches and meadows extend along the creeks.

Agricultural diversity Corn

There’s a clear division between the large residential and industrial fabric that takes place on the plateaus, replacing former grasslands, and the productive entering fingers in the slopes and the valleys.

Grain Forage

The mosaic is homogeneous, however, the patches are irregular. Orchards and vegetable gardening are characterized by small grain patches, whereas meadows and large cultivations take place on large grain patches. The parcels shape is defined by the land topography, as well as the historical infrastructures and creeks.

Potatoes Sugar beets Flax and hemp Vegetable herb and ornament Woody crops Fruits and nuts Agricultural infrastructure Other crops Grassland Subsurface composition Coarse sand Fine sand Loam Loamy clay Alluvial clay

Ferraris map, 1777 Geopunt.vlaanderen

Deep section - vertical exaggeration *5 Made by Author, adapted from 3D Subsurface 68

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Urban fabric

Water and flood risk

Landscapes

Zoom 1 Drogenbos

Zoom 2 Sint Pieters Leeuw

Zoom 3 Vogelenzang

Urban fabric

Watercourse

Agriculture

High risk of flooding

Park and domain

Moderate risk of flood

Underused public open space Forest Contour line 1m

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Potentials for rhizome

Soil conditions

Matrix, patch, corridor

Industrial building

Sandy clay

Water

Food hub

Sand, loam and clay

Forest

Remarkable building

Calcaerous sand

Domain

Superimposition

Industrial parcel / Oversized infrastructure / Underused plot 0

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VOGELENZANG, A TERRITORY IN TRANSITION

“ A foodscape is really a lens with which you can re-imagine your yard. So instead of just looking for the open, sunny area for a big garden or orchard, you start seeing the possibilities of growing food everywhere in your landscape. Sometimes it will be a large edible patch, but often it might be a section or part of your existing landscape” - Charlie Nardozzi. (Nardozzi 2015, 13)

The Vogelenzang neighborhood presents unique landscapes.

It is crosses by the Vogelenzang river at the South, and a creek at the North, working as a boundary between Brussels and Flanders. Flood risk extends along the water creeks and rivers, and can present opportunities for water retention and filtering.

Large infrastructures stand out from the landscape, such as the Erasmus hospital at the North, the cemetery and the Vogelenzang Naural Reserve located next to it, the park located at the border with the urban fabric, and finally, the industrial sites that create a separation between the urban and the natural landscape.

Urban fabric

Concerning the productive landscape, one could see the presence of two entering “fingers”, coming from the West, and presenting different characteristics. On the northern productive landscape, parcels are bigger, and are separated by historic infrastructures. They host intensive agriculture and are punctually planted with trees or orchards. The southern part presents smaller plots, stuck into ribbon developments an the urban fabric.

Settlement Industrial building Potential food hub Sports facilities

The urban fabric takes place on the higher grounds, and is organized in blocks. Some other ribbon developments cross the agricultural fields, hence dividing them. The transition of the urban fabric can happen progressively thanks to punctual interventions that allow a better arrangement of the built environment and its footprint, and the unbuilt landscape that can be an opportunity for food cultivation.

Green network Forest Domain Park

Schools, sports facilities, as well as farms and abandoned infrastructures are highlighted because of their potential for the instauration of a food hub. They can therefore work as main nodes for the development of the rhizome. Furthermore, industrial buildings are destined to (partly) disappear and be transformed into new ways of living and producing; the food system working here as a catalyst to engage these transitions.

Blue network Water Flood risk

To sum up, the existing situation and its landscape features work as incentives for the deployment of the rhizome, which takes place in the urban, productive, industrial and natural landscapes, engaging transitions of the different landscapes at different scales.

Vegetation Urban tree Fruit tree Dense forest tree Riparian tree The existing situation in the Vogelenzang.

Here, intensive agriculture fields are in contact with urban development, large commercial sites and small initiatives.

Map by Author, adapted from GIS database

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Progressing transformations and decline of the profession The agricultural sector in Belgium underwent an important decrease of the number of exploitations. Over the last 40 years, 68.3% of the exploitations disappeared, leading to the phenomenon of the merging of the land (Statbel 2022). During that same period, the average surface area for one exploitation has been multiplied by three, passing from 12.5 hectares to 38.0 hectares (Statbel 2022). The new generation is also less attracted by the sector, leading to a decrease of the numbers of workers by 62% between 1980 and 2016.

In the past, the transmission of the farm used to happen in the family, meaning that the descendants were taking over the family business. Today, only 74.2% of the regular labour force is coming from the family circle, whereas it stood at 96.1% in 1980 (Statbel 2022).

Generally, when a farm is not transmitted, the lands serve to the enlargement of the neighbouring exploitations. These important modifications in the agricultural domain had direct repercussions on the field The two images below show the same area of the Vogelenzang region, with a 50-year gap between them. One could clearly see the evolutionary remembering of the agricultural parcels, where the small parcels have been merged together to create large openfields of several of tens or hundreds of hectares.

The new patchwork landscape hence resulted is also adapted to the new ways of producing. Large parcels are now readjusted to host the intensive agriculture being the result of the urbanization and mechanization of the cultivation.

Aerial image of the territory in 1971 Geopunt Vlaanderen

Aerial image of the territory in 2020 Geopunt Vlaanderen 0

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Potentialities of the Vogelenzang Intensive agriculture is characterized by large parcels dedicated to a single type of culture. However, efforts are put in place to trigger the transition from monoculture to polyculture, in order to adapt to the new needs of the inhabitants and to reduce the importantions and transportation of fruits, vegetables and meat.

Agricultural diversity is a key element for the supply of Brussels in locally grown and organic food, while allowing a better understanding and respect to the land.

Food production diversity within a single territory.

Image by Author, 2022.

The Farm de Leener is located along the Bezemstraat and cultivates food with the respect of the land and the environment.

It also proposes educational activities to raise awareness about overexploitation of the land and the use of pesticides and fertilizers. Clients and visitors can also pick up their own vegetables directly from the ground.

This infrastructure, among others such as schools, sports facilities and existing famrs,, can help support the meandering rhizome and help as food hubs, proposing new ways of cultivating the land while highlighting the educational and leisure aspects of food.

The farm de Leener proposes educational activities and on-site products selling. This hub can be integrated within the implemented food landscape.

Image by Author, 2022.

Section of the Vogelenzang sequences.

Drawing by Author.

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Vision map Focus sites A - Productive Backyard B - From backyard to frontyard to backyard C - Evolutionary clearings

The rhizome sprawls over the territory thanks to different strategies depending on the land conditions.

First, the existing intensive agriculture is party transformed to host smaller-scale productive spaces, such as vegetable gardening or private allotment gardens. Some parts are nonetheless kept intact to ensure a diversity in Brussels’s supply. The existing inititiatives such as the Boeren Bruxsel Paysans test space are reinforced, others are introduced, mainly in direct proximity with food hubs.

Views D - Agriculture transition E - School - food hub F - Food Park

Agro-ecological features such as tree lines, hedgerows or forest patches are put in place, to preserve biodiversity and re-establish the bocage landscape that was once there.

Abandoned agriculture-related infrastructures are re-activated, such as old farms or warehouses.

They work, along with the sports facilities, the school and the existing exploitation as catalysts for the development of the rhizome and can be qualified as food hubs.

Food-related structure Projected food hub Existing sports facilities Existing vegetable gardening

We take advantage of food as an incentive to propose new ways of living.

Efforts are done in the urban fabric to reduce the footprint along with the increase of the density, and to exploit the oversized infrastructures. Tree lines, as well as soil remediation are undertaken. The inner plots and the urban interstices also undergo a transformation, highlighting the importance of collective facilities and activities.

Projected vegetable gardening Collective allotment garden Agroforestry Large culture Orchard

Green network Forest Domain Park Blue network Existing water Projected water catchment Vegetation Urban tree Fruit tree Dense forest tree Riparian tree The potential for rhizome development at a smaller scale generates transitions towards an agroecological foodscape.

Map by Author Existing situation.

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CULTIVATING FOOD-RELATED TRANSITIONS IN THE LANDSCAPE

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Non-agricultural infrastructure loss of arable land

Intensive agriculture large parcels monoculture use of pesticides & fertilizers

4-facade housings large land privatization sealed surfaces little to no production

Non-agricultural infrastructure relocate and convert to food-related structure

Intensive agriculture tranform into biological cultivation and terraced agroforestry

4-facade housings re-commoning the privatized lands reduce footprint increase density productive back and frontyards

Ribbon development dense urban block large sealed surfaces under-exploited inner-plots

School under-exploited for food education

Industrial site large sealed surfaces polluted soil

solar panels

solar panels

Water catchment prevents urban heat island

fruit trees line

rainwater harvesting

community garden

Ribbon development cultivate urban interstices deseal surfaces exploit inner-plots

cafeteria food waste to compost

School convert to food hub for leisure and education

school

Industrial site new building typology within a forest exploit clearings dig for water catchment

Water catchment prevents urban heat island

The process of transition starts with the reorganization of the existing structure and the adition of agroecological systems.

Drawings by Author

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A - Productive backyard

The suburban housing development, in opposition to the urban fabric, is less dense and less compacted. Here, single family houses are implemented within long and large plots, separated by their neighbours more commonly thanks to hedgerows and tree lines.

In this context, the housings are generally oriented towards the road, and the parcels are equipped with a parking space, as well as a frontyard towards the road and a backyard.

The project aims at (re) including the sense of community within this neighbourhood, while implementing a water sensitive urban design and enhancing biodiversity, thanks to different interventions. First, the width of the road is reduced to introduce bioswales and tree lines, which, coupled with rainwater harvesting enhance the water catchment and help prevent droughts. On another note, the backyards of the housings are enhanced, with the introduction of an accessible forest. More downwards, we took advantage of the topography to create a transition from large infrastructural agriculture to small-scale agroforestry, alternating between allotment gardens and orchards.

large industrial agriculture

EXISTING SITUATION

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unaccessible grassland

housing plot

The suburban housing development advocated individuality and turns its back to the existing large agricultural infrastructures. The large and short plots do not communicate neither with the back, nor with each other. Top drawing by Author, bottom

by Google Earth, 2022

road + parking

housing plot

trees against erosion

tree lines

bioswales

rainwater harvesting

greywater management agroforestry

backyard forest

housing plot

road + bioswale

housing plot

trees against erosion

rainwater harvesting

greywater management agroforestry

PROJECTED SITUATION

backyard forest

housing plot

bioswales + trees

Rainwater harvesting and greywater management help prevent droughts, while the introduction of tree lines, backyard forest and agroforestry allow a better communication between the residential neighborhood and the productive landscape.

Drawings by Author.

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PHASING

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BIOSWALES

A bioswale is a system that allows the conservation of water as well as it de-pollution thanks to the vegetation and a porous bottom. It is put in place in areas with high impervious cover and low groundwater levels.

It is put in place thanks to the “digging of a linear depression with slanted walls” (The Constructor, n.d.). It reduces overflow and therefore water runoff and the flooding it occurs, while helping recharge the groundwater level.

Other ecosystem services can be highlighted, such as the reduction of the Urban Heat Island (UHI), the improvement of air quality and the increasing of the biodiversity and protecting sensitive areas (The Constructor, n.d.).

Bioswales are here implemented along oversized infrastructures, to reduce the surface of impervious cover, while allowing the natural filtration of greywater issued from housings, and its catchment along with rainwater.

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2. Sand Layer

3. Gravel Layer

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Dense vegetation that allows a large surface area for contact with stormwater. Native plants and shrubs with high uptake ability are planted to filter out the pollutants.

A layer of sand is placed underneath the vegetation and allows the absorption of water as well as the development of the roots, allowing a better water infiltration hence reducing runoff.

Below the sand layer is a layer of grave or baked clay pellets arranged in a geotextile. The large empty spaces allow the rainwater to drain off, while being protected from sludge and roots via the geotextile.

An infiltration pipe/drain tube is located below the gravel layer, preventing the bioswale from overflow during heavy rainfall events.

(Left) Exploiting the backyard with the creation of terraced allotment gardens, while proposing new ways of living (thanks to the remembering of the urban fabric) and safeguarding biodiversity.

Drawings by Author

The bioswale system.

Adapted by Author from The Constructor, n.d. https://theconstructor.org/water-resources/bioswale-design-applications-advantages/34380/ 85

B - From backyard to frontyard to backyard

The large infrastructure is designed to satisfy the different users and makers of the city. However, impervious cover reduce water infiltration and enhance runoff. Plus, these infrastructures are oversized and do not help build a sense of community. On another note, the parcels on this fragment are very long (40 meters) and private.

The idea here is to transform the large road, first by remediating it with plants to, on another hand, grow food on the decontaminated soil. A way is still created for the inhabitants of the neighborhood and for emergency purposes. The private inner plots are also transformed; a part of them being given to the community to help grow a community allotment garden; hence enhancing productivity, while providing the inhabitants with fresh and local food. Some houses are also demolished when not inhabited anymore, and transformed into large allotment gardens.

housing plot

EXISTING SITUATION

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road (2 ways) + parking lane + bicycle paths (2)

housing plot

Long and narrow plots, as well as oversized infrastructures prone individuality and reduce the communication between neighbours. How to enhance this sense of community while producing more? Top drawing by Author, bottom by Google Earth, 2022

soil remediation

bioswales

rainwater harvesting

greywater management housing plot

communal space

housing plot

reuse of abandoned house

housing plot

PROJECTED SITUATION

productive frontyard

community allotment garden

Soil remediation is used to decontaminate the once sealed surfaces, while the introduction of common productive frontyards and gardens help enhance the sense of community while providing fresh and locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Drawings by Author

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DESEALING AND SOIL REMEDIATION

Soil sealing is one of the major issues of the contemporary world. Flanders is expecting that 20% of its surface will be sealed (omgeving.vlaanderen). This is why it has put in place a strategy that aims at reducing the impervious surfaces while proposing to depave the existing ones.

In order to be able to use the sealed surface as a space suitable for cultivation, it is important to follow a series of steps that ensure the de-contamination of the soil and the restoration of its nutrients, important for the production of food.

Successional stages of preparing the soil and inhabiting the park.

Graphic by author.

Soil contamination data:desealing Gouvernment de Quebec : GTC - Répertoire des terrains contaminés. https://www.pes1.enviroweb.gouv.qc.ca/AtlasPublic/CartesPubliques/ (Left) The progressive of the cartesmddelcc.html?cfg=TerrainsContamines.json oversized infrastructure, increase of the Phytoremediation plants: Société québécoise de phytotechnologie : La phytoremédiation. June 1st 2016.

density and exploitation of the interstices of the urban fabric, as well as the housings’ frontyard and backyard, allow the creation of a productive pedestrian neighborhood.

Drawings by Author

99 Soil remediation and desealing surfaces is a long process to be able to re-used the land for cultivation.

Drawings by Karmen Hoge (Hoge 2021, 99)

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C - Evolutionary clearings

With the process of transformation of the territory, and the evolution of the population as well as its needs, commercial and industrial sites are doomed to disappear. It is within this context that a proposal for the exploitation of these spaces of the city is developed. The transformation happens in phases that follow each other with time.

The overall vision aims at exploiting the different clearings, while forward-looking the transformation/demolition of the infrastructures.

This happens with the imposition of a grid on the territory, and with the planting of specific trees at the intersections of this grid, depending on the soil conditions.

On another note, the experiencing of new ways of living in a community neighbourhood occurs with the construction of new buildings, whilst reducing the built footprint and increasing its density. Here, the idea of living in the forest is pointed out.

Exploiting the clearings, à la manière de Rem Koolhaas - Plan for Melun Senart.

Author, 2022.

terraced housings

EXISTING SITUATION

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school

parking + road

industrial site

Commercial spaces as well as large parking lots exploit a large part of the territory, while reducing the opportunities for food production and not responding to housing shortages.

Image by Google Earth, 2022.

parking

artificial water retention pond

community productive space

digging cut&fill

desealing + soil remediation

terraced housings + inner plot community garden

school

road + tree lines

industrial site + water catchment area

forested backyard

artificial water retention pond

terraced housings + inner plot community garden

school food hub

road + tree lines

new building typology living in a forest) + water catchment area

forested backyard

artificial water retention pond

PROJECTED SITUATION

Exploiting the voids and proposing an alternative to living, working and consuming, while embedding the transition within a food environment and enhancing the sense of community.

Drawings by Author

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PHASING

First, we exploit the voids, the clearings of the fragment. These spaces become planted with adapted trees depending on the material on the soil conditions following an imposed grid on the territory. Fruit trees are also planted along the main mobility infrastructure, as well as willows next to the riverbed.

Furthermore, wetlands appear thanks to the digging of potentially floodable areas, therefore preventing flooding during heavy rainfall events, as well as water storage for the sunny days. The sand extracted from digging is further used to create a strategic microtopography in the food park located right next to the commercial site.

On a second step, buildings disappear progressively to make more room for natural elements, while hosting new buildings that respond better to the needs of the inhabitants.

Alternating between building lines and tree lines, while proposing private and public spaces, as well as community infrastructure, allow the development of a completely new neighbourhood that can be compared to a “clearing in the forest” (Smets 2002).

Along with this evolutionary process and the process of transition of the ways of living in the suburbs, commercial buildings are replaced with new housings and productive landscapes, while others are transformed into new food hubs. To shape the city according to its needs, while adding a production layer, such is the watchword.

The process of transformation of the commercial area, from large buildings to a clearing in the forest Drawings by Author

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CUT & FILL

Cut & fill is the process of digging earth and moving it from one place to another to change the existing ground level. It is used to level slopes and to create canals, wetlands and embankments.

The earth extracted can be recycled directly on the site or not too far from the extraction area, which can be beneficial in terms of costs and environmental footprint.

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1. Cutting

2. Filling

This step consists of the digging of a fragment of the territory to create in our case a wetland in place of the potentially flooded areas.

The earth therefore extracted is used in the near park to create a microtopography, hence proposing different atmospheres and usages to the population.

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Sand extracted for the creation of a water catchment area is re-used to change the existing topography in the neighboring food and wetland park.

Drawings by Author.

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Prototypes of building typologies

Within this process of transformation, one of the main challenge is to include more productive lands in the urban fabric. To do so, we identified three prototypes of building typologies, each of them being transformed depending on its inner conditions, with the main aim to reduce the footprint and enhance the density as much as possible, to make more room for food production.

In the first typology, parcels are large and long, square-shaped, the housings have a 4-facade typology and host a single family. The built houses have a large footprint and are surrounded by private gardens at the front and at the back.

A suggestion would be to re-use some buildings for the creation of greenhouses to grow particular plants suitable for this kind of environment. The house roof can for instance be used to protect the plantations.

On a second step, some existing buildings are kept as is, preserving their private allotment as well, while others are raised by one or two floors and transformed into apartment houses. This new typology’s flat roof also serves for water catchment and cultivation.

Finally, the leftover spaces and former private gardens are exploited for the creation of a large community garden, hence shifting the tendency; from private allotments to public foodscapes.

The second typology is characterized by the presence of terraced houses neighbouring 4-facade housings, both types housing single families. The ambition here is to enhance the density of some buildings while transforming them into apartments and to recycle abandoned houses for cultivation. exploit the interstices of the urban block and dedicate them to common productive land. The interstices are also cultivated, and, thanks to a strategy of pooling put in place by and for the inhabitants, fragments of the inner plots is converted to common productive spaces.

The third typology is a dense block composed of terraced houses. Because of the large density of the block, the strategy is to keep the built fabric as it is, while exploiting the fringes and the inner plots thanks to pooling.

These three typologies, presented from the one with the highest potential for transformation to the one with the lowest, present scenarios for future developments and transformations of the urban fabric.

In any cases, the rule is simple; reduce to the maximum the built environment’s footprint, increase the density whenever possible, and exploit the interstices while re-commoning bits of private lands.

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TYPOLOGY 1 OPENING THE 4 FACADES HOUSINGS

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TYPOLOGY 2 FROM HYBRID BLOCK TO CULTIVATED BACKYARD

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TYPOLOGY 3 EXPLOITING THE FRINGES OF THE DENSE URBAN BLOCK

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(Left) View D - The transition from landscape to foodscape includes as well the transition of agriculture - from intensive monoculture to a polycultural vegetable gardening that uses no pesticides and artificial fertilizers but rather grows on and thanks to nature.

Drawing by Author (Right) View E - “If you want a change start with the children”.

And this is how schools in Vogelenzang are transformed into educational hubs, where vegetable gardens and tree nurseries replace sealed surfaces for a better understanding of future challenges.

Collage by Author (Bottom) View F - The food park is the central space of the region, where people wander around fruits and nuts trees, meet in the greenhouse, learn by cultivating, and buy fresh local products thanks to the weekly market.

Collage by Author

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CONCLUSIONS To conclude, this design thesis aimed to test the re-intoduction of small-scale productive landscapes within the suburban areas of Brussels, by pointing out the unfolding of a rhizome throughout the territory, which invades within the fringes of the suburban fabric, triggers the transition of the intensive agriculture lands, and creates opportunities for new forms of living in place of induatrial sites and thrughout the weak suburban fabric.

Food has this particularity of being one of the primary needs of the human, while being festive. It has the power of connecting people and their cultures around the globe.

Some strategies have been put in place to ensure the capital’s provision, these strategies happening at different scales and in different landscapes.

The large intensive agriculture parcels undergo a series of modifications to induce a greater diversity of production, hence reducing the quantity of imported products and the transport system related to it.

The industrial and commercial sites progressively evolve to propose new ways of living, based on the preservation of the landscape and the introduction of natural spaces.

The urban fabric follows this transformation, with the removal of some built structures and the addition of levels on the existing ones, a reduction the footprint and the impervious covers while ensuring enough settlement development possibilities. Here, urban agriculture works as a catalyst for the transformation, as is therefore put in the foreground.

To end up, punctual interventions help the re-development of the urban agriculture in the territory, while ensuring educational and leisure purposes. Both strengthen each other reciprocally.

The result is a new way of living, learning, producing and consuming, in respect of the land, the environment and the biodiversity, that we can call an agroecological foodscape, and that extends in Brussels’s hinterland to ensure local and organic food to the capital’s population.

(Next double page) What are the challenges that the suburbs of tomorrow will have to face? Which productive transformations will shape again the territory?

To be continued...

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Geospatial data and maps The data has been collected and manipulated by the Author and is found in the following webpages. http://www.asblrcr.be/carto https://www.dov.vlaanderen.be/page/3d-subsurfaceviewer https://www.geopunt.be/catalogus https://www.geo.be/home https://gis.urban.brussels/brugis/#/ https://geobru.irisnet.be/fr/catalogue/ https://geodata.environnement.brussels/client/brugeotool/home https://metadata.vlaanderen.be/srv/dut/catalog.search https://opendata.bruxelles.be/page/home/

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