Call for Photographers: Caring for Space, Space for Caring Exhibition
Caring for Space, Space for CaringReclaiming care in times of welfare privatization The exhibition Over the past 15–20 years, an increasing number of vacant buildings have been reclaimed by and for communities through various policies, local agreements, and initiatives—whether professionally coordinated or spontaneously led by engaged citizens. Often referred to as urban commons, third spaces, […]
Policy Lab 2025: The Cooperative City
On February 5th 2025, we hosted our second Policy Lab around The Cooperative City, a key moment within the WELCOMIN research project where we collaborate with various actors of the urban field to build our research. We were hosted by Bruxelles Environnement, and we brought together various participants to explore innovative approaches to cooperative models. The […]
Infrastructures of Urban Welfare | StadsSalonsUrbains 2025
Brussels Center For Urban Studies‘ yearly conference cycle StadsSalonsUrbains is back! This year, we ask ourselves: What do citizens need to live the lives they desire? And does the city still provide the required welfare infrastructures for all? These seemingly mundane questions cut to the core of what urban environments mean for people in their […]
Brussels 2044, The Fluid City: Design Studio Jury
This June, we wrap up our year-long design studio journey with 13 students, who worked on our second scenario, “The Fluid City”. Focused on the Brussels Capital Region, the studio explored how community welfare infrastructures can address vacancy and promote ecological welfare amid the city’s demographic growth. It emphasizes the necessity of flexibility, adaptability and […]
Raquel Rolnik as guest contributor to Design Studio
On the week of the 18th of March, the chair of Brussels Studies Institute took place. In that context, we were happy to welcome Raquel Rolnik, a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at University of São Paulo. During a week, Raquel Rolnik shared her insights from over 45 years of critical scholarship, activism […]
Berlin: a fieldwork on the Fluid City
In the first week of March, the WELCOMIN team was in Berlin to carry out fieldwork concerning the second scenario of the research. Named the Fluid City, this scenario works from a perspective of 20 years from now. In this scenario, we account that the population of Brussels would have risen, and that vacancy has […]
Towards a WELCOMIN Atlas
Closing the Fall Semester, the mid-term presentations of the Design Studio participants will fuel a collective discussion on the typology of community welfare mixed infrastructures (WELCOMINs) in Brussels and their genealogy. Centred on care, these initiatives are the expression of an ecological welfare and the infrastructure of an eco-resilient city.
“When Sharing means Caring” at Ruimte Delen
On the 16th of October 2023, RABBKO and the City of Brussels hosted “Ruimte Delen”, a cultural platform adressing the theme of ‘sharing space’. Rising real estate prices are making it harder to find suitable workplaces. The spatial pressure on the city is sky-high. It is high time to look at space differently with our […]
Caring is Owning. Designing community welfare infrastructures for a resilient city
As part of the WELCOMIN project, this intensive international workshop explores the limitations and potentials of community ownership and community welfare mixed infrastructures in Brussels. In the framework of a prospective approach and supported by the input of international experts and local actors, research by design will allow envisioning spatial, functional and governance arrangements that can lay the foundation for caring and community-centred policies and cities.