Urban density: webinars with Belgian and international experts

HOW TO RECONCILE URBAN DENSITY AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE?

Despite the need to postpone the master class, the debate about density is continuing!

We know that density is not just a matter of arithmetic. It seems to be accepted that it must now be conjugated in the plural. It is no longer a question of choosing between urban life and nature, since both need to be strengthened at every point in the territory. But what would be the contours of this qualitative density?

In order to continue the year-long theme about density and in the current health context, Perspective is organising monthly webinars.

The mission, projecting.brussels, in the framework of which this initiative is organised, aims in particular to develop practical and prospective reflection about the themes of the Brussels city project (Regional Plan for Sustainable Development), by raising awareness of the issues, complexities and time frames for the various elements of the urban project.

One Tuesday every month for 6 months, Perspective will be inviting an international practitioner or researcher to talk about their vision of density. Density and health, density of uses, density and public spaces, natural density, ... these conferences will provide an opportunity for understanding density from all its facets and will help everyone to form a more panoramic vision of the concept.

On the agenda for the webinars:

• December: Healthy City, by Jens Aerts
• January: Everyday Density, by David Sim
• February: Urban Forms and Density, by Meta Berghauser Pont

As soon as the health situation allows it, in the spring of 2021, the master class will be organised, in the form of a workshop in situ, in order to design new density scenarios in 5 territories of the Capital Region. Then, in September 2021, it will be time for the synthesis which will close our season devoted to the new paths of density.

Webinar: "Healthy City", by Jens Aerts
15 December 2020 from 5pm to 6.30pm

Jens Aerts is an engineer-architect and partner at BUUR. Notably, he has extensive experience in urban planning in Belgium and abroad, and has worked as an advisor to the UNICEF headquarters in New York on the development of specific urban programmes concerning health, road safety, public space and the urban food environment.

Since its appearance at a popular market in the Chinese municipality of Wuhan in December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread rapidly in a hyper-connected and urbanised world. This spread has led to a pandemic and the health crisis of the century.
Investing in spatial planning as a spatial vaccine is crucial for a sustainable recovery of cities, the economy and society. The historical legacy of urban planning in the 19th and early 20th centuries attests to the importance of emphasising the principles of urban compactness and density, spatial quality, inclusive and green public space, and social infrastructure at the neighbourhood level as part of local government support measures. Many cities which have invested in sustainable spatial planning and participatory processes are now moving easily into shaping the health and climate-smart city of the future.

Would you like to find out more? Watch the webinar video.
 

• Learn more about the international expert round table held last autumn (only in french)
• Find the interview of Jérôme Baratier, curator of the master class and Perspective in Le Soir (online edition, PDF edition).