The brownfield ‘Josaphat’ is an urban common threatened by development. Ever since this Schaerbeek-Josaphat marshalling yard fell out of use in 1994, nature has rewilded this site. Plan B Josaphat is a mix of associations, neighbourhood committees, urban movements and activists. They all defend this natural resource in terms of biodiversity and climate change. Plan B Josaphat proposes a co-creative planning process to protect the established nature and biodiversity as well as provide ample housing to respond to the need for affordable housing in the city. A petition, a manifesto, videos and a social media campaign led to nearly 2.000 official public reactions to the inquiry, probably a record for Brussels. It seems inevitable that the government will have to adapt its plans to listen to its citizens’ concerns.
BRAL is happy to have supported this initiative. As a partner of Commoning Europe, we have made this video in collaboration with Dérive and translated it into English.
