From Wasteland to Neighborhood Local

The so-called Farm­House is con­sid­ered the heart of Par­ck­farm. The sec­ond-hand green­house was moved from the Nether­lands to Brus­sels. Today, it serves as a place for meet­ings, cook­ing, and eat­ing. One of the ini­tia­tors was the design office 1010 Archi­tec­ture Urban­ism, which man­aged the par­tic­i­pa­to­ry build­ing process in coop­er­a­tion with the JES and Yota! orga­ni­za­tions. © Rossel & Cie — Bruno D’Alimonte

In the north of Brus­sels, sur­round­ed by streets and yet almost hard to find, a small par­adise has emerged. In 2013, a diverse team put an idea into prac­tice: they com­bined the spe­cial and unique fea­tures of a park with urban agri­cul­ture and micro-farm­ing. Involved were local ini­tia­tives and groups that had been using the fringes of the fal­low land for some time for the col­lec­tive cul­ti­va­tion of fruit and veg­eta­bles, small ani­mal hus­bandry, and pigeon­ries. The result­ing location—Parckfarm—still brings the neigh­bor­hood togeth­er today. Dif­fer­ent actors orga­nize var­i­ous activ­i­ties, work­shops, gar­den­ing, and debates. How­ev­er, a land use plan for the area is now in place. Neigh­bor­hood asso­ci­a­tions and ini­tia­tives see access to and use of the park as threatened.

Link to Audio guide

Lov­ingCom­mu­ni­tyUrban Agri­cul­turePub­lic SpaceRe-useCohab­i­ta­tionActi­va­tionPar­tic­i­pa­tion

Project

Par­ck­farm

Actors

Par­ck­farm T&T asbl, asso­ci­a­tion and coor­di­na­tion; res­i­dents of the neigh­bor­hoods, ini­tia­tives and col­lab­o­ra­tion; Alive Archi­tec­ture and Tak­tyk, cocu­ra­tion; IBGE — Insti­tut Brux­el­lois pour la Ges­tion de l’Environnement, com­mis­sion and co Winancing

Year

Since 2014, open­ing at the Par­ck­de­sign Biennale

Loca­tion

Brus­sels, Belgium

Par­ck­farm was ini­tial­ly planned for only five months, but thanks to the ini­tia­tive of numer­ous res­i­dents and oth­er sup­port­ers, it still exists six years lat­er. © Par­ck­farm T&T
Peo­ple from the neigh­bor­hood come togeth­er on-site to grow fruit and veg­eta­bles. Bees, chick­ens, ducks, and sheep are also kept. © Par­ck­farm T&T
The col­or­ful bee-cars or bee-wag­ons, which can be pulled by a bicy­cle, were devel­oped by the Roy­al Bee­keep­ing Soci­ety of Brus­sels and Sur­round­ings (SRABE). Bee­keep­ers like Mok­tar pro­duce and sell their hon­ey here. Vis­i­tors can tour the bee colonies and learn more about the crit­i­cal role these insects play in our liv­ing envi­ron­ment. © Dieter Telemans