‘Cité de la
Philanthropie
/
Stad van
Menslievendheid’
2020 - 2022
Self-initiated social, urban research
Photography by: Axel De Marteau
Graphic design: D-E-A-L
Supported by: Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht
‘Cité de la Philanthropie / Stad van Menslievendheid’ is an ongoing research into the historical and current developments of social housing production of Brussels. The post-war modernist motto of ‘healthy housing for all’ triggered an expropriation and social mutation plan, to make space for the production of social housing tower blocks. Nowadays it is a ‘patrimony’ left for almost 70 years in decay, leaving precarious and unhealthy living conditions for many people with the lowest incomes. Currently new renovation projects are finally planned and executed, though, due to social mixing and other renovation strategies declining numbers of social housing are found in central Brussels and many people are being displaced. A repetition of the modernist social mutation project?
In conversations with residents, and other parties this project urges a search for new social ideologies connected to the production and renovation strategies of public housing.
To view the exhibition about the project at the Open Studio's of the Jan van Eyck Academy in 2021, click here