Cureghem: from demolition to revitalisation

Abstract

The text is a facsimile of the print edition. Licence CC BY Muriel SaccoCureghem: from demolition to revitalisation Translation: Jane CorriganThis article focuses on the changes initiated by the new public policies for the urban revitalisation of 'vulnerable' neighbourhoods in Brussels. The analysis of Neighbourhood Contracts in Cureghem allows a better understanding of how the pre-existing context shapes this institutional innovation and of how a new public policy contributes to transforming political action. With the Neighbourhood Contracts, the municipal authorities of Anderlecht have gone from a project to demolish Cureghem to a project to revitalise it. However, this change was gradual. At first, the implementation of this mechanism in Cureghem revealed considerable inertia on behalf of the municipality due to its political and administrative culture and its lack of involvement in this new project. The objectives of this regional policy were achieved with the partial reconstruction of the local political landscape and the learning opportunities provided by the mechanism. The case of Cureghem thus demonstrates the role of local stakeholders in the creation of a public policy. Muriel Sacco is a researcher in political science and a member of METICES and CENA at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Within the framework of the IRSIB programme 'Prospective

Migratory movements and dynamics of neighbourhoods in Brussels

“…The dynamics of neighbourhoods are at the centre of social and political concerns in big cities. Based on the observation that Brussels is a city marked by a strong social and territorial divide between poor and rich neighbourhoods [Van Hamme, 2010], since the beginning of the 1990s, the political response on behalf of the authorities of the Brussels-Capital Region has favoured targeted and multidimensional action in the poor territories of the city, in particular through Neighbourhood Contract programmes [Sacco, 2010]. These policies are based in particular on the idea that spatial segregation reinforces social inequalities via 'neighbourhood effects' [Musterd et al, 2003].…”

Social mix in public urban action in Brussels: project or political language?

“…This is done via several aspects of the mechanism regarding the revitalisation of the residential function and public space, thus involving new types of protagonist in urban action: architects and urban planners now have a role to play to attract new households to the targeted neighbourhoods. But the mechanism emerged in a context in which the increase in the level of insecurity and feeling of insecurity was one of the main concerns, thus shaping the first contracts [Sacco, 2010].…”

Refuse of the city: rethinking waste management in Brussels

“…Cureghem, in Anderlecht, is one such neighbourhood, presenting the typical features of a disadvantaged urban area: the population density is double the regional average; the unemployment rate for young people is 10 per cent higher; the average surface area per dwelling is 60 m 2 compared to 74 m 2 at regional level; and 40 per cent of the total population are of foreign origin, a number which does not include people without resident status or people of foreign origin who have obtained the Belgian nationality [IBSA, Monitoring des Quartiers]. Like neighbourhoods in other cities in the western world, Cureghem is a former working-class neighbourhood which still bears the marks of decades of disinvestment and political abandonment following the deindustrialisation process of the 1970s [Kesteloot and Meert, 1999;Mistiaen et al, 1995;Sacco, 2010]. The built environment consists of a mix of cramped living quarters, terraced brick houses (often divided into flats), workshops, businesses and warehouses, which have been gradually emptied and occupied by newcomers and people with immigrant backgrounds often in precarious situations.…”