2021
Berlaar
Municipality
Spatial design
Designing a new market square together with Berlaar
Berlaar is a municipality of about 11,000 inhabitants in the Antwerp Kempen. Typical of Berlaar is the triangular village square from Frankish times, also called 'dries'. Throughout the years, however, the Market has undergone several changes. Due to the increase in car traffic, part of the square was transformed into a parking lot and was cut into 2 for through traffic. Because of this, the historical character was partially lost. Therefore Berlaar, together with its inhabitants, wants to revalue the heart of the town so that the square can once again become a place of meeting, activity and greenery.
Challenge
Involving citizens as much as possible increases the quality and support for solutions and strengthens the democratic capacity and ownership of municipal decisions. That is why citizens are increasingly actively involved, both in the development of a better service and in the design of a new square, park or street in the neighborhood.
That is why the municipality of Berlaar organized a participation and communication process for the redesign of the Market Square in the center of Berlaar.
Approach & results
In addition to generating creative ideas, the main goal was to create a broad base of support for the reconstruction of the market, across party lines, and taking into account the different population groups and other stakeholders.
For this reason, we approached the process in as low-key a way as possible: From the start of the participation process until the submission of the environmental permit, we pay very close attention to validating and communicating the outcomes of the various participation and co-creation moments as widely as possible. In this way, the final plan will be supported as much as possible by all stakeholders and end users of the market.
In addition, prior to generating ideas, it was important to empathize with the real needs of the users and stakeholders of the Market and to be inspired by good practices, from different angles. We want to create enough room for new and innovative ideas that perhaps no one had thought of yet.
The co-creation process was therefore facilitated in a number of online "future cafes" with various stakeholders, coupled with broader online citizen participation. More than 40 Berlage residents participated in these future cafes. Following the future cafes, the findings and ideas were elaborated and visualized in scenarios. With this, a citizen participation platform was set up in citizenlab on which a dialogue with the broader citizen population of Berlaar is currently being held. From June 2021 onwards, we will process the input from the future cafes and the citizen participation platform into the new preliminary design for the Market that will ultimately lead to the tendering of the works.
The co-creation process was therefore facilitated in a number of online "future cafes" with various stakeholders, coupled with broader online citizen participation. More than 40 Berlage residents participated in these future cafes. Following the future cafes, the findings and ideas were elaborated and visualized in scenarios. With this, a citizen participation platform was set up in citizenlab on which a dialogue with the broader citizen population of Berlaar is currently being held. From June 2021 onwards, we will process the input from the future cafes and the citizen participation platform into the new preliminary design for the Market that will ultimately lead to the tendering of the works.
