par Bortolotti, Andrea ;Dessouroux, Christian ;Sanchez Trenado, Corentin ;Véroone, Baptiste
Référence RC21 Conference: Rethinking Urban Global Justice (11-13 September: Leeds)
Publication Non publié, 2017
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : Over the past decade, the concepts of ‘green’ and ‘circular’ economy have increasingly gained traction in public discourses, programs and policies in Europe. Based on the idea of boosting new economic cycles while solving major environmental problems, these concepts have been translated into urban programs and policies with distinct economic and socio-spatial impacts. The Abattoirs and Markets of Anderlecht–a 11-ha site located in the one of the Brussels’ poorest inner-city neighborhoods–represents one of these ‘urban (re)development projects’ attracting a lot of interest and generating debate for many years now.The private company that holds a long-term lease contract with the municipality of Anderlecht for the exploitation of the site has benefited of EU and Regional funding (the ERDF - European Regional Development Fund) for the implementation of an ambitious masterplan which comprises the global reorganization of the site with the relocation of the existing slaughterhouses into a new mixed-use building hosting various activities related to the food sector, the creation of a large public ‘playground’, the promotion of new 'sustainable' housing, and the creation of rooftop farms for a ‘smart’ agriculture. The company’s foremost concern is to enhance greening as well as openness and adaptability of the site.On the other hand, the Abattoirs site and its neighborhood play a specific role in providing home and access to the labor market to newcomers and immigrants aiming to improve their socio-economic conditions. The Abattoirs, in particular, host one of the largest and cheapest market of the city and enables a variety of formal and informal networks. For instance, it enables market vendors, immigrants, low qualified workers and volunteers to equally engage in a variety of economic and social activities ranging from selling to recovering and recycling food and goods. At this respect, the Abattoir site represents a truly inclusive and hospitable place, particularly for disadvantaged or marginalized people.A main question thus arises: how may the restructuring of the area, promoted under the label of EU policy strategy for a ‘smart, green and inclusive’ development, might affect this complex but vulnerable social network? In how far may the upgrading process weaken the site’s capacity to host, invite, allow or ease less formalized activities and its appropriation by different population groups? How, in return, may the stakeholders in charge of the Abattoir site better integrate and even increase the level of social inclusion by taking into account this complex ‘ecosystem’ and by developing new planning approaches which address urban change and major environmental and resource issues without undermining the existing social fabric?The paper presents the results of a series of fieldworks and interviews with key informants and local stakeholders recently conducted by a mixed research group composed by a sociologist, two geographers and an architect. The work focused on questioning the project vision vis à vis its possible impacts on the site and urban neighborhood. Preliminary insights suggest that, focusing mainly on creating space to attract new businesses activities, the vision falls short to create the conditions for addressing also environmental and societal issues at the core of the ERDF program, but which are also key for the private initiative to succeed. On the other hand, the particularity of the site–its multiplicity of actors, uses, and practices–coupled with the mechanisms of inertia of the surrounding neighborhood, suggest that the future project trajectories are still largely flexible and open to negotiation.

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