From a controversial redevelopment project to a popular city centre

Background and motivation

The municipality of Forest (Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium) is carrying out an ambitious project to transform the urban centre, in collaboration with the Region, the public transport company and various regional services.

The heart of Forest is a district with a high attractiveness and high density of uses. It concentrates several emblematic facilities and places:

• the Town Hall,

• Forest Abbey, which is being converted into  a future major cultural centre,

• the Parc de l'Abbaye, a popular place for the organisation of (supra-)local festivities (Forest Sounds, Festival of Tales, Open-air Cinema, Medieval Festivals, etc.)

• a  solid commercial border  ,

• and, less than a kilometre away, Forest National, a large concert hall with more than 8,000 seats and the Club de l'Union Saint-Gilloise

This centre also benefits from good accessibility by public transport, a train station nearby, several tram and bus lines. Intermodality is an issue that we are working on as part of the mobihubs strategy.

Historically structured around a dense and mineral road axis, the centre of Forest is now undergoing an ambitious requalification aimed at creating a peaceful, multifunctional and inclusive public space.

The expected benefits of this transformation, both for local residents and for the urban climate, are explained as follows

• A qualitative, secure and multifunctional public space, which can accommodate markets, flea markets, events, sports activities and games.

• Convivial places conducive to meetings: benches, terraces, shaded areas.

• Increased biodiversity and more green spaces through rain gardens and permeable areas.

• A playful presence of water (water jets, drinking water fountains).

• Sustainable rainwater management, strengthening Brussels ' blue network.

• The application of the STOP principle (priority pedestrians, cyclists and other alternative modes, public transport and finally private vehicles)

•  Calmer car traffic, with a decrease in transit traffic.

• More comfortable and accessible public transport stops, especially for people with reduced mobility.

• Increased punctuality of trams guaranteed by the reduction of car pressure on the axis

• An ambitious planting plan to fight against heat islands.

Despite these many concrete benefits for the quality of life and the climate, a significant part of the local debates today crystallize around the issue of parking and accessibility by car. Underlying these tensions is also the issue of accessibility for people with reduced mobility and the elderly: the implementation of the project is perceived as excluding this part of the population.

The concerns expressed on social networks as well as with elected officials and municipal services mainly concern the removal of parking spaces and the reorganization of traffic, to the detriment of the multiple collective benefits of the project. This situation highlights a challenge shared by many European cities : how to build support around these projects and support the transition to more sustainable urban centres, when mobility and parking issues remain highly sensitive.

At the level of the municipality of Forest, because of its tensions, some of the political forces and the administration are redirected towards the search for parking solutions. On the one hand, on the road with a request to rehabilitate certain pitches. On the other hand, in terms of the reallocation of the infrastructure of the AUDI company (which has closed its production site in Forest) on which various car parks are currently unused. The Brussels government has set up a task force to reflect on the future of this site.

Objectives

The municipality of Forest wishes to join an interdisciplinary European consortium in order to share its experience and also benefit from feedback from other cities. It proposes to transform this situation into  a laboratory of urban innovation, by experimenting:

•  tools for analysing and modelling real parking needs,

• hybrid financial models (public/private/cooperative),

•  digital solutions for pooling (car park sharing, smart booking, intermodal management),

The municipality of Forest wants to learn lessons in order to:

1. Reinvent the role of parking in changing urban centres – towards shared, shared, temporary or intermodal uses.

2. Identify financial and governance models for the creation and management of shared car parks between public and private actors.

3. Strengthen the replicability of the model for the redevelopment of the core of Forest in other European urban contexts, adapting it to local realities.