This thesis attempts to provide a real response to the needs of the inhabitants through an architectural and
urban planning project. In particular, by developing a network analysis to develop strategies to mitigate
gentrification.
One of the main strategies is to improve the public space in order to develop an inclusive city where the public realm is an open and flexible system, and which is an interface for superdiversity and biodiversity.
Public spaces are transformed into living spaces and no longer places of transit. Pedestrians and inhabitants become the priority users. In addition, the landscape is redesigned with time boundaries in mind with full time and temporary occupation of water and banks. To establish a multimodal public space that secures pedestrians from traffic and transforms public space into a living and productive place, it is first necessary to determine which are the essential axes of car traffic that must be preserved. They are shown in the following diagram in black. All the other streets in Molenbeek and in the city centre can therefore be potentially verdurized and completely pedestrianized. An enormous amount of space is freed up, and can be appropriated by the inhabitants and transformed according to their needs. Each street could be considered as a separate commons project whose commoners would be the inhabitants of the street.
By massively verdurising the public space, the proportion of permeable and impermeable space is rebalanced. It encourages water infiltration and avoid saturation of the sewers, which leads to pollution of the Canal and the Senne. Plants improve the quality of the air, the soil and the Canal water. The Canal in its entire length between Porte de Ninove and Sainctelette is conceived as a green corridor. This continuous green space connects the two future parks on the outskirts.
A third main objective in this project is the creation of new paths allowing the crossing of the Canal and connecting the city centre with Molenbeek. New bridges would be developed and would only be open to pedestrians, cyclists and other form of active mobility. By rethinking and critically challenging the existing borders and edges in the light of existing social realities and theories, the Canal is transformed into an open, productive and multimodal space by re-balancing the public space between the users.
