Brussels - impressions of diversity

For three days I have been walking the streets of Brussels again, or rather a very small corner of the large city, the quarters of Ixelles, which lies on either side of the Louisa Laan (Avenue de Louise) south east of the city centre, just next to the EU-buildings.

The reason for my trip was a workshop, held in Belsbo, organized by JPI Climate and Belmont Forum. I will spare you the details on that (It was really good! Totally on Climate Services in a wide scope) and instead show you some really interesting things about Brussels. 

This time I stayed in a little Apart-hotel (Axl Flathotel, on Rue de la Croix) which means that breakfast was not included (You could get breakfast to your room, but all rooms were equipped with a mini-kitchen) So, I had to go hunt for food. Just nearby there was a huge Delhaize located (a chain like ICA or COOP in Sweden) with a fantastic big range of stuff – I found my favorite Yoghurt Pur Natur, as well as a great invention – pre-cut veggies for a Ministrone, complete with a small amount of sauce (in a separate package) to just boil up, and Voila – Dinner served!

Super food!!!

On my way to Delhaize I came across something typical Belgian (typical in my eyes - Belgians may think differently). Behind a high fence some large green trees were sticking up, revealing what looked like a secret garden in the middle of all the stony streets and walls of apartments. A little heaven with calm and green, for birds and humans to enjoy.

Secret gardens with lots of shade from the big trees.
This is what is suggested as a good future strategy
to lower the high temperatures in big cities,
a phenomenon called the Urban heat Island.

The mix of old and new is striking. The old cobblestones are a hard to walk on (because it is also quite hilly) if you wear anything but sneakers (which I try to do when I get dressed up for meetings).

There is a special thing about the Belgian houses that never ceases to amaze me. In spots and locations where Swedish people would shake their heads in despair, Belgians actually manage quite well to squeeze in a house or two, and even make it look cozy and nice. Or a tree.

Smart use of tiny space - tall row houses

Stony dark roads are maybe not the best place for a
little tree, but there it is. A nice green space.

Belgians are just excellent builders of small houses. And with small, I mean narrow, but high row houses. Further, there is always something green around, despite the stones and walls. Often beautiful old plants are climbing to the wall surfaces, creating what we now in modern day adaptation times call green walls, but which more has the origin in plants gone wild. Absolutely wild, and the people in the house have just enjoyed it, and let it be. And seen the beauty of it, I guess. And just added some more flowers on the side to match it up.

Having spent so much time on adaptation, discussing greening of cities, green and blue urban planning, nature based solutions… this already exists to some degree around the blocks where I walked. We often talk about capacity building , on educating the citizens on what to do to adapt to climate change, but often it is forgotten that quite some citizens are already using the techniques that we suggest, and they also have developed them in places where we did not even think about them. 

A green surface gone wild...

A slightly more managed tree, in a place where
it seems to be impossible to grow anything
- I love these nice green spaces!

All the new stuff that comes from research – on how to plan and how to build and where to do what when it comes to adaptation – is often found already in the older existing buildings and around older houses. Often things have been put there because people liked it (some trees for shade, a secret garden, some extra flowers on the front of the house).  And in a very delicate way Belgians, with their flexible and solution oriented minds seem to be the silent masters of it. They do not stand up in the research community and scream on top of the walls – Look what we have done! It is really nice and useful! 

The Belgians just simply seem to do things, to make diversity and adaptation and planning work in reality, and then go on with their other things. Practically. No fuzz. No “look-at -fantastic-me”. They just simply do things, and make them work. It is something I really like about what I have come to see in Belgium. Actions, solutions and diversity of ideas, with both feet still on the ground.

 

One house wall was covered in beautiful flowers (Passions fruit flowers)

Another example of high row houses, mixing modern layouts with old.
No house looks the same. All are individually designed,
so far from the "carpets" of modern rowhouses in Sweden, where all are exactly the same.