Good Living: these 12 experts will lead the way to ambitious urban development regulations
Brussels Government gives the green light for an expert committee that will guide the Good Living process.
Brussels Government gives the green light for an expert committee that will guide the Good Living process.
Brussels State Secretary for Urbanism Pascal Smet has announced three weeks ago that he is working on a thorough reform of the urban development regulations, named “Good Living”. They should develop into an ambitious framework to future-proof all Brussels buildings, streets and squares, a real guideline in the Brussels transition to a people-minded city.
Today, the Brussels Government has given the green light to launch this first important stage, which is the composition of an expert committee.
Oana Bogdan will chair this committee, composed of 12 members selected on the basis of their competences, expertise and/or crucial experience in planning, architecture, heritage and landscaping professions, including environmental, social and legal aspects related to these matters.
“Good Living will determine Brussels evolution as a city in the coming decades. Improving the Brusselers’ life quality is the key objective. What will our buildings and public spaces look like? Good Living will provide an answer to that central question. In order to formulate the strongest possible answer, we are calling on the great expertise in our city. The 12 selected experts all embody urbanism. For me, it is obvious that we accomplish this important objectives together with the sector,” says State Secretary for Urbanism Pascal Smet.
The expert committee members appointed today:
Academic members/architects/urban planners
- Oana Bogdan (KUL, Dutch speaking, ♀), President of the committee: architect and founding member of the architectural firm Bogdan & Van Broeck, guest professor at KUL, member of A+ Architecture and of the International Union of Architects, has chaired or been a member of the jury at architecture competitions (Rotterdam, Belgium) and a member of several committees / public commissions in Flanders (architecture and design, the Brussels heritage committee “CRMS”, UNESCO expert of Bruges).
- Benoît Moritz (ULB, French speaking, ♂) : architect and founding member of the architectural firm MSA, professor at La Cambre Horta, co-coordinator of LoUIsE (Laboratory on Landscape, Urbanism, Infrastructures and Ecologies), MetroLab steering committee, Brussels Studies Institute scientific committee, EU Mies Award winner in 2017.
- Jens Aerts (VUB Cosmopolis, Dutch speaking, ♂) : urban planner working with international development agencies, city governments, developers and non-profit organizations on the intersection of urban practice, policy and research. Most recently he has been working for UN-Habitat, UNESCAP UNICEF and the World Bank. He is an associate partner at BUUR - Bureau for Urbanism, specialized on sustainable urban development programs and policies, such as neighbourhood upgrading, green mobility planning, healthy environments, circular economy and place-making.
- Anne Ledroit (Saint-Luc Liège, French speaking, ♀) : graduated from the “École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Nancy”. Co-founder of Ledroit Pierret Polet architects 2012 - 2016: Teacher at “École Supérieures des Arts Saint-Luc Bruxelles”.
- Sven Grooten (Dutch speaking, ♂) : architect, founding partner, general director B architects.
- Hélène Rillaerts (French speaking, ♀) : Architectural Engineer (UCL) + DEA in Art Actuel. Urbanist in the BRAT office and in BUUR from 2014. Involved in complex urban development processes and urban projects in Brussels and Wallonia. Her career has led her to work on sectoral studies in various fields, to produce regulatory plan documents, and to participate in the search for sustainable urbanism through several years of collaboration within the Facilitator Service of the BCR.
- Luc Eeckhout (Dutch speaking, ♂) : Architect EVR / Visiting Professor KU LEUVEN - International Master Sustainability Climate Design & Sustainability / KULeuven - Designstudio. Adaptive design and planning for the era of climate change. Climate as an Architectural Instrument.
Members professional sector & civil society
- Thierry Baneton (French speaking, ♂) : order of architects of the provincial council of the Order of Architects FR (Brussels and Walloon Brabant), partner BEAU (research office for urban architecture (Forest)).
- Pierre-Alain Franck (French speaking, ♂) : UPSI (professional association of the real estate sector), administrator
Members public service
- Kristiaan Borret (Dutch speaking, ♂) : Bouwmeester / maître architecte (Chief Architect) for the Brussels-Capital Region
- Vanessa Mosquera (French speaking, ♀) : urban planning department of the City of Brussels
- Katelijne Franssens (Dutch speaking, ♀) : architect, chief architect of the urban planning department of the municipality of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert
The mission of the committee has been described as follows :
“The committee's mission is to analyse the current regulatory situation and challenges and to find relevant solutions to the problems raised. The committee will work from a research and cooperation perspective, based on the challenges mentioned above, which should lead to clear, precise and concrete proposals, allowing the study of their urbanistic, legal and environmental impact in accordance with the procedure provided by the Brussels town planning code (CoBAT), at the latest within five months of its founding.”
