“We always hanged around on the sidewalk in front of our house, especially on those sunny days. Our neighbors also did so, while their kids were playing in the street in front of their house. We thought it could be nice if they have a decent bench to rest, meet or socialise a bit with each-other…of course any excuse to de-pave a newly paved road was a nice extra!”

After some weeks of planning and coordinating, and on our first day of fieldwork, we immediately got disappointed as the only neighbor we did not explicitly talked about the project beforehand rejected the idea to have a bench in next to his house. He claimed people will sleep under the bench, set it on fire, put couches next to it: it would be a total disaster. He refused all our alternative proposals for the urban furniture and even the smaller de-paved green space! We hurtfully accepted it and moved to our plan B: the same spot on the other side of the street. We broke open the pavement, dug out the rubble, made room for new roots in our street and found some healthy earth in Flanders (which we brought to our street). In the end, we added one square meter extra of green space in the city. Today, it is thriving in this concrete desert!

To make the picknick table, we got some enormous pieces of recuperated cut glue-lam wood and metal bar table legs from @rotordc. However, we still had to work on it on-site: we cut, assembled, sanded, painted and heavy duty varnished the wood into a sturdy, bright and fun meeting place. The rainy days made it a long process, but we were happy with the results of a project with limited resources, giving back a something fun to our neighborhood!

Sitting should be fun! In this case, we wanted to use some elements we found on the streets during our walks in the neighborhood to add some playfulness to the installation, and for this the North quarter is truly a goldmine! Metal pipes were added to create a fun structure, reusing @Jefvermeulen’s expansion tank. It raised questions, some concerns, general confusion and marked the bench as a spot in the street. In the end, it became a scaffold structure for the flowering plants to climb on without suffocating the tree nearby.  After all of this, a small but festive opening was set up and friends, neighbors, and people working in the street joined for cake and tea. We received positive feedback from car drivers and neighbors who liked the idea and proposed to do it around their houses or shops. One neighbor took it seriously, and is currently trying to realize a similar initiative! The “Contrat de quartier durable” supporting people to initiate and realize their ideas in public space is very appreciated and definitely needed for a healthy city with vibrant public spaces. We hope to hear and see more initiatives created by residents in Brussels to adapt their immediate surroundings to their needs.

Special thanks to our neighbors for their inspiration and willingness to support us
with Robin De Ridder & @dana_savic_
Recycled wood and metal by @rotordc , tools by our favorite @tourneviebxl
Supported by the city of Brussels